Why it works: Sugar and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Cranberry Roll
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Stew cranberries in just enough water to prevent burning until soft.
Sweeten to taste and strain through a colander; let cool completely.
Assemble the roll
Make a dough similar to apple pudding.
Spread cranberries about 1 inch thick on the dough.
Roll it up in a floured cloth and tie the ends securely.
Cook and serve
Boil for 2 hours and serve with sweet sauce.
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 + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cranberries
- Supply the tart flavor and form the soft, jammy filling inside the roll.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart cranberries to taste.
- Flour
- Gives the dough structure so it holds its shape around the filling.
The step that matters
Tying the roll securely in the floured cloth. A loose or poorly tied cloth lets water into the roll or lets the filling escape during the long boil. Dough swells as it cooks, so the tie must hold firm while leaving the roll room to expand.
“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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