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Dessert

Orange and Raisin Compote

A compote of muscatel raisins, sweet oranges, and brandy and sherry, sweetened with powdered and castor sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Orange and Raisin Compote

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the raisins

  1. Stone the raisins and mix them with the powdered sugar, brandy, and sherry.

  2. Cover the raisin mixture while you prepare the oranges.

  3. Grate the rind of one orange and mix the grated rind with the raisins.

Prepare the oranges

  1. Remove the outer rind and inner white pulp from the oranges.

  2. Thinly slice the oranges, removing any seeds.

  3. In a deep dish, combine the sliced oranges with lemon juice and castor sugar.

Combine and chill

  1. Pour the raisin mixture over the sliced oranges.

  2. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

  3. Chill the dish on ice while the flavors blend.

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Brandy + sherrytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Raisin + brandytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Raisin + orangetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,684 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

What each ingredient does

Muscatel raisins
Provide chewy texture and concentrated, sweet fruit flavor as they soak in the spirits.
Sweet oranges
Supply the main fresh citrus body, juice, and bright flavor of the compote.
Brandy
Adds aromatic depth and helps carry flavor through the soaked raisins.
Sherry
Adds nutty, wine-like aroma and sweetness to the soaked raisins.
Powdered sugar
Dissolves readily into the spirits, sweetening the raisin mixture evenly.

The step that matters

Soaking the raisins before combining. Covering the raisin mixture lets the raisins absorb the brandy, sherry and sugar, so they soften and flavor evenly. Adding them unsoaked would leave dry, uneven pieces in the compote.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy, sherry, orange, lemon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy, sherry, orange, lemon. 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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