Name: Custard, Apricot Glazed
Ingredients: 20 apricots, halved and pitted; 4 ounces powdered sugar; 1 glass water; ¼ pound powdered sugar (for syrup); kernels from apricots (for garnish)

Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Custard, Apricot Glazed

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

20 apricots, halved and pitted
4 ounces powdered sugar
1 glass water
¼ pound powdered sugar (for syrup)
kernels from apricots (for garnish)

Directions

Toss 12 apricot halves in 4 ounces of powdered sugar and place them in a custard prepared according to apple custard directions.
Bake and glaze the custard as directed.
In a preserving pan, combine 1 glass of water and ¼ pound of powdered sugar with the remaining apricots.
Reduce the syrup until thick, then remove the skin from the apricots.
Arrange the apricots in the custard and garnish each half with a kernel.
When ready to serve, pour the syrup over the custard. Serve hot or cold.

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 + syruptop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Apricot + syruptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together451 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,630 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).