Why it works: Sugar and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 98,233 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓
Cherry 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.
Prepare
Remove the pits from the cherries.
Make a puff pastry and line a deep pie plate.
Squeeze all the juice out of the cherries.
Assemble and bake
Combine the cherries, sugar, and butter in the pie plate.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until well done, ensuring the crust doesn't overcook before the cherries.
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 + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavor and a tart acidity that balances the sugar.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cherry juices thicken as the filling heats.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richer flavor and a softer, more tender filling.
The step that matters
Baking until the filling is cooked through. The filling needs enough heat for the cherry juices and sugar to thicken. Pastry browns faster than fruit cooks, so the crust can overbake while the filling stays runny. Covering the edges or checking early helps keep them balanced.
“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.
More cherry pie recipes
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.