Why it works: Plum and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,313 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Plum Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
Simmer the plums in a little sugar and water until tender.
Remove the plums and add plenty of sugar to the juice; boil until it begins to thicken.
Pour the thickened juice over the plums and set aside to cool.
Bake
Line pie pans with the rich pie crust, fill with the plums, cover, and bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).
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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Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,313 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Plums
- Provide the main fruit body and flavor of the filling as they soften when simmered.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, when boiled into the juice, helps it thicken.
- Rich pie crust
- Forms the structure that holds the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Boil the juice until it begins to thicken. Sugar and fruit juice must reach a sufficient concentration to thicken into a syrup; stopping too early leaves a runny filling that soaks the crust, while over-boiling can make it stiff once cooled.
“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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