Why it works: Cranberry and sugar work together. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Prune Tart
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Scald the prunes, remove the stones, and break them apart.
Combine the prunes, cranberry juice, and sugar in a saucepan and simmer until thickened.
Fill and serve
Let the mixture cool, then use it to fill a tart shell.
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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Cranberry + sugartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together374 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
- Prunes
- Provide the main body and sweet, concentrated fruit flavour of the filling.
- Cranberry juice
- Adds liquid and tartness that balances the sweetness and helps the prunes soften.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, as it simmers, helps it thicken into a spreadable mixture.
The step that matters
Simmering until thickened. Simmering must go far enough to reduce the liquid and thicken the mixture, but if it boils too hard or too long it can scorch on the bottom of the pan. Cooling before filling lets the mixture set to a firm texture.
“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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