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Dessert

Compote of French Plums

A compote made from French prunes simmered in a sweetened milk and sugar syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Compote of French Plums

Ingredients

Directions

Make the rice border

  1. Boil the rice in milk until tender.

  2. Add sugar, cream, and isinglass dissolved in a little hot milk.

  3. Pour into a border mold.

  4. Let set.

Stew the prunes

  1. Boil sugar in water for five minutes.

  2. Add French prunes.

  3. Boil for ten minutes.

  4. Color the syrup with a few drops of cochineal.

  5. Let it cool.

Unmold and serve

  1. Dip the border mold in warm water.

  2. Turn it out.

  3. Place the stewed plums in the center.

  4. Pour the syrup around.

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.

  1. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Rice + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Rice
Cooked in milk until tender, it forms the body of the set border.
Milk
Cooks the rice and carries the dissolved isinglass into the custard base.
Isinglass
A gelatin-like setting agent that firms the border so it holds its shape when turned out.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the border a softer, smoother texture.
French prunes
Soften in the hot sugar syrup, providing the fruit flavor and body of the compote.

The step that matters

Let the border set fully before unmolding. Isinglass firms as it cools, so the border needs time to set; unmolding too early can cause it to tear or slump.

“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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