Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Mock Cherry Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Soak cranberries in cold water to remove seeds, then skim them out.
In a bowl, combine cranberries, raisins, sugar, flour, vanilla, and boiling water. Mix well.
Assemble and bake
Pour the filling between two pie crusts.
Bake until the crust is golden brown.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raisin + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together782 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Cranberries
- Provide the tart fruit flavour and bulk of the filling.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and sweetness that mimics the cherries in a traditional pie.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the tartness of the cranberries.
- Flour
- Thickens the filling juices so they set rather than running out of the pie.
- Pie crusts
- Form the structure that encloses the filling and browns during baking.
The step that matters
Thickening the filling. Flour must be mixed evenly through the boiling water and fruit so it thickens the juices. Unevenly mixed flour can leave lumps or runny pockets that make the pie soggy when cut.
“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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