Name: Raspberries and Currants
Ingredients: raspberries; currants; pulverized sugar; whipped cream; wine or orange juice

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Raspberries and Currants

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Mix raspberries and currants together.
Set the mixed berries on ice until ready to serve.

Assemble and serve

Pile the berries in a mound, sprinkling pulverized sugar among them.
Garnish the base with white or black currants in bunches.
Serve with cream or wine.

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 + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Currant + winetop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,323 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Cream + winetop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,887 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,256 recipes
Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together9,581 recipes

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

Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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

Raspberries: Provide the main tart-sweet fruit flavor and bright color.
Currants: Add concentrated tartness that balances the sweetness of the sugar.
Pulverized sugar: Sweetens the berries and softens their tartness.
Whipped cream: Adds fat for a rich, smooth texture that cools the fruit's acidity.
Wine or orange juice: Adds acidity and aromatic depth to the berries.