Why it works: Chestnut and syrup work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 87 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Crystallized Chestnuts, Marrons Glaccs
Ingredients
Directions
Cut the skin of the chestnuts with a knife, being careful not to injure the fruit inside.
Soak the chestnuts in cold water.
Boil the chestnuts quickly until tender, then remove from heat but keep them hot.
Have the hot syrup ready in a preserving pan.
Peel the hot chestnuts and add them to the syrup, being careful not to break them.
Leave the chestnuts in the syrup until the next day.
Drain the syrup, boil it again, and pour it over the chestnuts.
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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Chestnut + syruptop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together87 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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