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Dessert

Egyptian Pears

A stewed pear dish with dates, flavored syrup, and thick cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Syrup and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Egyptian Pears

Oven, in the book's wordsA very slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Peel and core the pears.

  2. Place prepared dates in the center of each pear.

  3. Put the pears in a jar with a few extra dates.

  4. Pour the flavored syrup over the pears.

Stew and serve

  1. Stew in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) until cooked through.

  2. Serve with thick 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.

  1. Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pear + datestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12 recipes

    Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).

  3. Pear + syruptop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together254 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Dates + syruptop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together49 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Pear + creamtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together404 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Stewing pears
Provide the main fruit, which softens and turns tender during slow cooking.
Dates
Add sweetness and a rich, concentrated flavor that fills the pear centers.
Flavored syrup
Adds sweetness and moisture, helping the pears cook gently without drying out.
Thick cream
Adds richness and a cool, fatty contrast to the warm, sweet fruit.

Swap the dates

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pear, syrup, cream):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Datesthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pear, syrup, cream. 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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