Why it works: Sugar and syrup 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 ↓
Green Gage Plums
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the plums
Combine one pound of sugar with one pint of plums.
Scald the plums and wipe them.
Pierce the plums with a needle.
Make the syrup and cook
Add a small amount of water to the sugar.
Bring the syrup to a boil.
Add the plums to the boiling syrup.
Reduce heat to a slow fire and boil until the syrup is clear.
Remove the plums and spread them on dishes to cool.
Cool, jar and seal
Pour the syrup into a tureen and set aside until completely cold.
Place some plums into half-pint tumblers, nearly filling them with syrup.
Pour a dessert spoonful of good brandy over each tumbler.
Cut a round piece of white paper the size of the tumbler top, soak it in brandy, and lay it on top.
Cover tightly by pasting paper over.
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. See the original page.
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.
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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Plums (in the method)
- Provide the main fruit flavour and the soft, tender texture once cooked in syrup.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and thickens the syrup, helping preserve the plums by drawing out water.
- Brandy (in the method)
- Adds aroma and a warm flavour to the syrup at the top of each tumbler.
The step that matters
Reduce to a slow fire once the plums go in. A hard boil can split and break the plum skins and flesh. Gentle simmering lets the syrup penetrate the fruit slowly and turn clear while the plums keep their shape.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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