Why it works: Raisin and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Mock Cherry Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Assemble the pie
In a bowl, combine cranberries, raisins, water, sugar, vanilla, and flour.
If desired, add currants.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust.
Cover with a second crust and seal the edges.
Cut slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape.
Bake
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raisin + curranttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,180 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, creamy).
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Raisin + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together782 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vanilla + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Cranberries
- Provide the tart, fruity flavor that gives the filling its cherry-like character.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness to the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps thicken it as it cooks.
- Flour
- Thickens the juices released during baking so the filling sets.
The step that matters
Cut slits in the top crust. Steam from the heating filling needs an outlet; without slits, pressure can build and push the juices out or make the crust soggy underneath.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, vanilla, flour):
- Figfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, vanilla, flour. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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