Why it works: Hazelnut and rhubarb share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 15 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓
The recipe
Serves 4Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
- Hazelnut pâte brisée
- Filling
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Whisk the flour, hazelnut meal and sugar together in a bowl. Rub in the cold cubed butter with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
Add the cold water a little at a time, mixing with a fork just until the dough holds together. Flatten into a disk, wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment.
Toss the pitted cherries, chopped rhubarb, sucanat, salt, nutmeg and the flour together in a bowl until evenly coated.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a round about 12 inches (30 cm) across and transfer it to the lined baking sheet.
Mound the fruit filling in the center of the dough, leaving a border of about 2 inches (5 cm). Dot the filling with the butter pieces.
Fold the border of dough up over the edges of the filling, pleating as you go. Sprinkle the crust border with the sugar for topping.
Bake for 45 minutes, until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbling. Cool on the sheet for 20 minutes before slicing.
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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Hazelnut + rhubarbtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together15 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Flour + rhubarbtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together638 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18,411 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Hazelnut + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together64 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Flour + buttertop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together122,858 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, hazelnut, sugar, butter, rhubarb):
- Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
- Nutmegthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, hazelnut, sugar, butter, rhubarb. 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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