Why it works: Peach and red currant work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 33 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓
Elan of Peaches
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the case
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Grease a fluted circular or oval mold, about 2 inches high and 8 inches in diameter, with butter.
Line the mold with short paste, cut the edges level, and pinch the edges to create a raised border.
Fill the case with flour mixed with chopped suet and bake until three-quarters done.
Remove the flour and clean the case with a paste brush.
Bake and serve
Fill the case with halved peaches that have been simmered in thin syrup for 5 minutes.
Return the flan to the oven for about 15 minutes.
Arrange a close row of peach halves on top, add a peach kernel to each, and pour jelly over the whole before serving.
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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Peach + red curranttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together33 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + peachtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together860 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Flour + syruptop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,540 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Flour + peachtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together787 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Short paste
- Forms the crisp, sturdy case that holds the filling and peaches.
- Flour
- Fills the baked case temporarily so it keeps its shape while partly baking.
- Chopped suet
- Adds fat to the filling mixture, contributing richness and tenderness.
- Peaches
- Provide the main fruit flavour and soft, juicy texture on top of the flan.
- Red currant juice
- Makes a tart, set glaze that adds sheen and sharpness over the peaches.
The step that matters
Partly baking the empty case. Baking the case until three-quarters done, then removing the flour, lets the pastry set and dry so it stays crisp under the moist peaches and syrup.
Swap the red currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, peach, syrup):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Figfits better
- Red currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, peach, syrup. 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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