Name: Prune Pie
Ingredients: 1 cup prunes; 1 cup sugar; ½ cup boiled cider; pie crust

Why it works: Sugar and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 27% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,308 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Prune Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

1 cup prunes
1 cup sugar
½ cup boiled cider
pie crust

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

Cook the prunes until tender, then remove the pits.
Mash the prunes finely and mix in the sugar and boiled cider.

Assemble and bake

Prepare a pie crust and fill it with the prune mixture.
Cover with an upper crust and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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.

Sugar + cidertop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,308 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Prunes: Provide the main body and sweet, concentrated flavor of the filling once cooked and mashed.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps thicken and soften the mashed prune filling.
Boiled cider: Adds concentrated tangy, fruity flavor and acidity that balances the 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.