Why it works: Sugar and grape are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 23% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,490 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Compote De Raisins
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the syrup
Boil sugar and water together to make a syrup.
Strain the syrup.
Cook and serve
Add muscatel grapes to the syrup and boil for 2-3 minutes.
Remove any foam with a piece of white paper.
Arrange the grapes in a serving dish.
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 + grapetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,490 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sugar
- Dissolves into the water to form a syrup that sweetens the fruit and gives body.
- Muscatel grapes
- Provide the main fruit flavour and soften into tender pieces in the hot syrup.
The step that matters
Boiling the grapes for 2-3 minutes. Boiling too long can split and collapse the grape skins and make the flesh mushy. Keeping the boil short helps the grapes hold their shape while they take on the syrup's sweetness.
“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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