Why it works: Raspberry and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,109 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓
Jam Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, combine the jam, sugar, lemon juice, and water.
Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes.
Strain the mixture to remove solids.
If using fresh raspberries, add them instead of jam before boiling.
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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Raspberry + lemontop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,109 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Raspberry + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,101 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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
- Raspberry jam
- Adds sweetness and fruit flavour to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the tartness of the lemon.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour of the sauce.
- Fresh raspberries
- Add fresh fruit flavour when used in place of jam.
Swap the raspberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon):
- Orangefits better
- Limefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberrythe 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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