Why it works: Apricot and sherry work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 173 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Apricot Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Melt the apricot jam slowly in the sherry and water.
Let it boil for ten minutes.
Strain and serve
Rub it through a fine sieve.
Re-heat and serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Apricot + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together173 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apricot jam
- Provides sweetness, fruit flavour, and pectin that helps the sauce thicken as it heats.
- Sherry
- Adds aromatic depth and a subtle dry, nutty flavour that balances the jam's sweetness.
The step that matters
Let it boil for ten minutes. Boiling evaporates water and concentrates the sugar and fruit pectin, which sets the sauce's thickness. Too short a boil leaves it thin, while overboiling makes it stiff and can scorch the sugars.
“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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