Name: Baked Pbars
Ingredients: plums; white or brown sugar; water; cream

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Baked Pbars

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

plums
white or brown sugar
water
cream

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Wash the plums and place them in a deep pan.
Strew plenty of white or brown sugar over the plums.
Pour a small amount of water into the bottom of the pan.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until the fruit is soft.
Serve with cream.

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Plum + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,313 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Plum + creamtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together369 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).