Why it works: Raisin and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,390 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Gruel with Milk
Ingredients
Directions
In a saucepan, bring 1 cup of cold water to a boil.
Add 2 tablespoons of raisins when the water boils.
Stir in the desired amount of cinnamon and white sugar.
If preferred, use milk instead of water and add 1 tablespoon of rum.
Do not add butter or salt.
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.
-
Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
-
Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Rum + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together508 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Rum + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,007 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rum, cinnamon, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Applefits better
- Figfits about as well
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rum, cinnamon, sugar, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
More milk gruel recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.