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 ↓
Cherry Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare and fill
Line the dish with the pie crust.
Fill with pitted cherries.
Sprinkle sugar over the cherries based on their sweetness.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour over the cherries.
Bake
Cover the pie and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 30 minutes.
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
- Ripe cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavour, tartness, and the juices that set the filling.
- Flour
- Thickens the cherry juices as they heat, so the filling holds its shape when cut.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the natural tartness of the cherries.
- Pie crust
- Holds the filling and browns in the oven, adding fat and a crisp base.
The step that matters
Dusting the cherries with flour and sugar. Flour must be spread evenly over the fruit so it can absorb the released juices and thicken them as they heat. Clumps leave pockets of raw starch, and sugar should be adjusted to how sweet the cherries are.
“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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