Why it works: Pear and rosemary share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and 35 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 6Ingredients
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Peel, core and dice the pears into small pieces, then set them aside.
Combine the cranberries, water, orange juice, sugar and grated orange zest in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
Bring to a boil, stirring, then reduce to a gentle simmer for about 8 minutes until the cranberries burst and the liquid thickens slightly.
Stir in the diced pears and chopped rosemary and simmer for about 5 minutes more, until the pears are tender.
Remove from the heat and stir in the Dijon mustard. Taste and add a little more sugar if you like it sweeter (optional).
Let the chutney cool to room temperature, then transfer to a jar and refrigerate until chilled before serving.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Pear + rosemarytop 11% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together35 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Orange + rosemarytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together261 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Pear + orangetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together320 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Mustard + rosemarytop 7% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together315 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Pear + sugartop 9% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together2,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pear, sugar, orange, rosemary):
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Sweet potatobetter flavor fit
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pear, sugar, orange, rosemary. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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