Why it works: Pear and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,079 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Baked Fbabs
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.
Prepare
Wash the pears and place them whole in a baking tin.
Do not peel the pears; leave the water from washing on them.
Sprinkle sugar over the pears.
Bake and serve
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until the pears are quite soft.
Pour the syrup from the bottom of the dish over the pears 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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Pear + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,079 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
- Pears
- Soften during baking and release juices that form a syrup in the dish.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pears and helps them brown slightly in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake until the pears are quite soft. Pears need enough heat and time for their starches and cell walls to break down; underbaked pears stay firm and taste raw. Check by pressing gently with a knife or spoon rather than relying only on the clock.
“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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