Name: Raisin Pie
Ingredients: 1 package of raisins; 2 cups of water; 1 cup of sugar; 1 tablespoon of corn starch

Why it works: Raisin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Raisin Pie

Ingredients

1 package of raisins
2 cups of water
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of corn starch

Directions

Wash the raisins well.
Boil the raisins with 2 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar for about 15 minutes.
Thicken the mixture with 1 tablespoon of corn starch.
This makes enough filling for two pies.

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.

Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,481 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Raisin + corntop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together180 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,168 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).