Name: Peaches and Nuts
Ingredients: whole firm peaches; finely mashed English walnuts; sugar; whipped cream

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Peaches and Nuts

Ingredients

whole firm peaches
finely mashed English walnuts
sugar
whipped cream

Directions

Pare the peaches and remove the stones.
Fill the cavity with finely mashed English walnuts.
Reassemble the peaches and secure them with fine toothpicks.
Place the peaches in a steamer for 10 minutes.
Remove and cool the peaches.
Serve with sugar and whipped cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Peach + walnuttop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together82 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Peach + sugartop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,308 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Walnut + creamtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,982 recipes

Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Peach + creamtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together721 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).