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Dessert

Spiced Pears

Preserved pears simmered in a spiced vinegar and sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Spiced Pears

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the syrup

  1. Tie the spices in a bag.

  2. Boil the bag with vinegar and sugar.

  3. Skim the mixture well.

Cook the pears

  1. Add the pears.

  2. Cook for 10 minutes until scalded and tender.

  3. Remove the pears and place them in a stone jar.

  4. Boil the syrup for 5 more minutes.

  5. Pour the syrup over the pears.

Rest and reboil

  1. The next day, pour off the syrup.

  2. Boil the syrup down again.

  3. Repeat the pouring off and boiling down for three mornings.

  4. Keep the bag of spices in the syrup.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Cinnamon + cassiatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together116 recipes

    Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

  5. Cassia + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together194 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Pears
Provide the fruit that softens and absorbs the spiced syrup during cooking.
Brown sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps thicken it as it reduces.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the fruit.
Mixed whole spices
Infuse the syrup with warm aroma and flavor as it simmers.

The step that matters

Repeating the pour-off and boil-down each morning. Reducing the syrup again each day concentrates its sugar and vinegar, which helps preserve the pears and deepens their flavor. Skipping a day or shortening the boil weakens that effect.

Swap the pear

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, cassia, allspice, clove):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Pearthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, vinegar, cinnamon, cassia, allspice, clove. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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