Why it works: Sugar and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,182 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Cranberry Tart
Ingredients
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
Wash the cranberries in several waters.
Combine cranberries, sugar, and cloves in a pot and partially cook them.
Fill a pie dish three-quarters full with the cranberry mixture.
Assemble and bake
Cover with the pie crust and brush the top with cold water.
Sprinkle white sugar over the crust.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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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Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together17,182 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 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 filling's main body and tart flavor.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cranberries and balances their sharp acidity.
- Pie crust
- Encloses the filling and forms the golden, crisp top and base.
The step that matters
Partially cooking the cranberries. Cranberries hold a lot of pectin and acid, so cooking them briefly before baking softens them and lets sugar dissolve, so the filling sets without bursting or turning watery in the oven.
“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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