Why it works: Sugar and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 23,364 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Cranberry 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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Rinse the cranberries and remove any stems or blemished berries.
Make the filling
In a saucepan, combine cranberries, sugar, and nutmeg.
Cook over medium heat until the cranberries burst and the mixture thickens.
Bake and serve
Pour the cranberry mixture into a pie crust without an upper crust.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until the filling is bubbly.
Let cool before serving.
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 + nutmegtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 23,364 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
- Fresh cranberries
- Burst during cooking to release pectin and juice that form the filling's body.
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps thicken it as the mixture cooks down.
- Ground nutmeg
- Adds warm, aromatic spice that balances the tartness of the cranberries.
The step that matters
Cook until the cranberries burst and the mixture thickens. Cranberries contain pectin that is released as the berries break down, and the sugar concentrates as liquid evaporates. Stopping too early leaves a runny filling, while overcooking can make it stiff and dull in flavour.
“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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