Name: Quince Tart
Ingredients: preserved quinces; syrup (made with sugar and water); puff pastry

Why it works: Syrup and sugar match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Quince Tart

Ingredients

preserved quinces
syrup (made with sugar and water)
puff pastry

Directions

In a preserving pan, combine an equal weight of syrup and preserved quinces.
Boil the mixture and skim off any foam.
Once somewhat clear, place the quinces in a tart dish lined with puff pastry.
Cover the tart and bake until done.
Gently lift the top, pour in the syrup, ice it, and serve.

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.

Syrup + sugartop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,842 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Quince + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,444 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Quince + syruptop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together80 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).