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Baba with Apricots

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Baba with Apricots

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

  1. Gently tap the mold on the edge of a kitchen dresser to release the Baba onto a hair sieve.

  2. In a saucepan, combine the syrup from the preserved apricots, plain syrup, apricot jam, and brandy; bring to a boil.

  3. About 30 minutes before serving, warm the Baba in the oven at 350°F (175°C) until heated through.

  4. Turn the Baba upside down, cut off the crust from the bottom, and carve out a pointed piece from the center.

  5. While the sauce is hot, pour half of it into the Baba through the hole.

  6. Place the Baba on a serving dish and pour the remaining sauce around the base.

  7. Serve with whipped cream and sprinkle with pounded sugar.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Apricot + brandytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the apricot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (syrup, brandy, cream, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotthe original
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Strawberryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against syrup, brandy, cream, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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