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Dessert

Orange Baskets

A dessert of orange shells filled with pineapple, almonds, cherries, and topped with whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and pineapple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,664 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Orange Baskets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the oranges

  1. Cut out a piece from each side of the orange, leaving a strip for the handle.

  2. Remove the pulp from the oranges.

Fill and finish

  1. Mix the orange pulp with chopped pineapple, blanched almonds, and candied cherries.

  2. Sweeten the mixture to taste and fill the orange shells.

  3. Top each filled orange with a spoonful of whipped cream.

  4. Pierce a hole through the handle and run the stems of two or three violets with a small spray of fern through each handle.

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. Orange + pineappletop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,664 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Pineapple + almondtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together428 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  4. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Pineapple + creamtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,574 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Oranges
Serve as the edible shell and carry the filling.
Whipped cream
Adds a light, soft topping that contrasts with the fruit.
Candied cherries
Add sweetness and bright colour to the filling.
Blanched almonds
Add a crisp, nutty texture to the filling.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (orange, almond, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against orange, almond, cream. 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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