Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Combine cranberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot.
Cook slowly until the cranberries burst and the mixture thickens.
Pour into a mold and let cool.
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.
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cranberries
- Provide the main body and tartness, and their pectin helps the sauce thicken as it cooks.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and balances the cranberries' sharp acidity.
- Lemon juice
- Adds brightness and acidity that sharpens the flavor and supports the cranberries' setting.
The step that matters
Cook slowly until the cranberries burst and the mixture thickens. Cooking gently lets the cranberries break down and release their pectin, which sets the sauce as it cools. Cooking too hard can scorch the sugar and make the sauce taste bitter.
“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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