Why it works: Sugar and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Stewed Prunes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash the prunes and soak them overnight in the water.
Cook and serve
Cook the prunes gently in the soaking water for two hours or until soft.
Add the sugar and lemon juice, then cook for an additional ten minutes.
Allow to cool before serving.
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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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Prunes
- Soften during cooking and provide the main body and sweetness of the dish.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the tart flavour of the fruit.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Cooking gently until soft. Cooking over high heat can split the prunes and make the syrup cloudy or bitter. A gentle simmer lets the fruit soften evenly and absorb the liquid without breaking apart.
“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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