Name: Crystallized Chestnuts, Mawom Glaces
Ingredients: large chestnuts; water; syrup; 1 stick vanilla

Why it works: Chestnut and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 244 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Crystallized Chestnuts, Mawom Glaces

Ingredients

large chestnuts
water
syrup
1 stick vanilla

Directions

Cut the skin of the chestnuts with a knife, being careful not to injure the fruit inside.
Place the chestnuts in cold water and boil them quickly until tender.
Remove from heat and keep the chestnuts hot.
Peel the hot chestnuts and place them in the syrup.
Let the chestnuts sit in the syrup overnight.
Drain the syrup, boil it, and pour it over the chestnuts for four consecutive days.
On the last day, reduce and clarify the syrup, adding vanilla for flavor.
Dip the chestnuts in the syrup and allow the sugar to crystallize on them.

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.

Chestnut + vanillatop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together244 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,855 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Chestnut + syruptop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together87 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).