Why it works: Raisin and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,481 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
White- Wine Whey
Ingredients
Directions
Make the whey
Heat the new milk in a saucepan until it boils.
Pour in enough sour raisin wine to completely curdle the milk.
Let it boil, then remove from heat and allow the curd to settle without stirring.
Strain the whey into a separate container.
Sweeten and serve
Add ½ pint of boiling water and a bit of white sugar to the whey.
Stir to combine and adjust sweetness to your preference.
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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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + winetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,116 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (fenugreek, curry).
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Raisin + winetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,324 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- New milk
- Provides the protein that curdles, separating into curd and whey.
- Sound raisin wine
- Its acidity curdles the milk, splitting it into curd and liquid whey.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the tartness of the whey.
The step that matters
Allow the curd to settle without stirring. Stirring after curdling breaks up the curds, so they stay suspended and cloud the whey. Letting them settle undisturbed lets the clear whey be strained off cleanly.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, wine, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, wine, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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