Why it works: Vanilla and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Vanilla Extract
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cut the vanilla bean into small pieces and pound it with the sugar in a mortar until fine.
Mix the alcohol and rose water together.
Filter and finish
Place the vanilla mixture in a paper filter and pour a little of the liquid over it at a time until all is used.
If not all is dissolved, filter again.
Optionally, darken the extract by adding a little caramel.
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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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vanilla + rosetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together456 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Mexican vanilla bean
- Provides the main vanilla flavour and aroma that the extract carries.
- Loaf sugar
- Helps grind the bean into a fine powder and adds mild sweetness.
- 95% alcohol
- Dissolves the flavour compounds from the vanilla bean and preserves the extract.
- French rose water
- Adds a delicate floral aroma and dilutes the alcohol slightly.
The step that matters
Filter slowly in small amounts. Pouring the liquid over the vanilla powder a little at a time lets it steep and dissolve the flavour compounds evenly. Pouring too fast washes the powder through without extracting much flavour, and undissolved particles may remain, which is why the record suggests filtering again.
“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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