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Dessert

Macedoine of Fruits in Syrup

A sweet fruit compote made by simmering mixed fruits in a syrup of sugar, water, brandy, and liqueur.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Melon and apricot share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Macedoine of Fruits in Syrup

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the sugar in water for a few minutes to make a syrup.

  2. Flavor the syrup with brandy and liqueur.

  3. Let the syrup cool completely.

Assemble and serve

  1. Mix the cooled syrup with an equal measure of mixed fruits.

  2. Chill on ice until ready to serve.

  3. Serve with custard or whipped cream.

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. Melon + apricottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together35 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Brandy + curranttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Brandy + apricottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together513 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Currant + apricottop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together188 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Brandy + melontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together33 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Lump sugar
Dissolves into the water to form a sweet syrup that coats and flavors the fruit.
Mixed seasonal fruits
Provide the main fruit flavor, color, and texture in the compote.
Brandy
Adds aroma and a warm, spirited flavor to the syrup.

The step that matters

Let the syrup cool completely. Adding fruit to hot syrup would soften it and cook it further, leaving it mushy and dull in color. Cooling first keeps the fruit firm and fresh-tasting.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy, melon, apricot):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy, melon, apricot. 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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