Why it works: Pineapple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pineapple Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Heat the pineapple liquor in a saucepan.
Add the white sugar and lemon peel.
Let it boil for 6 minutes.
Stir in the preferred liquor.
Serve
Serve hot with a hot pudding.
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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Pineapple + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,841 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
- Pineapple liquor
- Provides the fruit liquid and flavor base for the sauce.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the fruit.
- Lemon peel
- Adds bright aroma from its oils during simmering.
- Preferred liquor
- Adds aroma and flavor when stirred in.
The step that matters
Stir in the preferred liquor. Alcohol evaporates when heated, so adding it after the boil keeps more of its aroma and flavor in the finished sauce.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon):
- Orangefits better
- Limefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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