Why it works: Sugar and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Cranberry Pie
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 the filling
Pick over and wash the cranberries.
Stew the cranberries in a porcelain-lined saucepan until well done.
Sweeten the cranberries to taste.
Assemble and bake
Line a pie plate with the pie crust.
Fill the crust with the stewed cranberries.
Bake with or without a top crust at 350°F (175°C).
Finish and serve
Optionally, cover with meringue after baking.
Optionally, dust with powdered sugar when 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 + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cranberries
- Provide the tart fruit base that softens into the filling when stewed.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart cranberries and balances their acidity.
- Pie crust
- Forms the structure that holds the filling and bakes into a crisp base.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into an optional meringue topping that adds airy texture and browning.
The step that matters
Stew the cranberries until well done. Cranberries contain substantial pectin and acid, and they must cook long enough to soften fully and thicken the juices. Undercooked berries stay firm and release liquid during baking, leading to a runny or uneven filling.
“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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