Name: Pineapple, in Salad
Ingredients: white sugar; slices of pineapple; grated nutmeg; French brandy or rum

Why it works: Pineapple and brandy work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 298 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pineapple, in Salad

Ingredients

white sugar
slices of pineapple
grated nutmeg
French brandy or rum

Directions

Dust the bottom of a dish with white sugar.
Layer slices of pineapple on top and dust with sugar again. Repeat until all pineapple is layered.
Sprinkle a pinch of grated nutmeg over the top.
Add French brandy or rum to taste and serve.

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.

Pineapple + brandytop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together298 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Nutmeg + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,311 recipes

Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
Pineapple + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together293 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Sugar + pineappletop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,841 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together11,939 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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

White sugar: Adds sweetness and draws out juice from the pineapple, moistening the layers.
Slices of pineapple: Provide the fruit base and its juicy, acidic flavour.
French brandy or rum: Adds aroma and a warm, boozy note to the fruit.