Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Blackberry Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the filling
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix sugar and flour together.
Add blackberries to the bowl and gently toss to coat them with the sugar-flour mixture.
If the mixture seems dry, add a little water.
Assemble and bake
Pour the berry mixture into a pie crust and cover with another crust or lattice top.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes, or until the crust is golden and the filling is bubbly.
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 + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Blackberries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and the bulk of the pie filling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps draw out juices from the berries as they bake.
- Flour
- Thickens the juices released by the berries so the filling sets rather than running.
The step that matters
Coating the berries with the sugar-flour mixture. Flour must be evenly distributed over the berries so it can absorb the released juices. Clumps or uneven coating can leave pockets of raw flour and a runny or patchy filling.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.