Why it works: Sugar and red currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,156 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
A Cherry Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slack oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Prepare a pie crust and line the sides of a pie dish.
Sprinkle sugar at the bottom of the dish.
Fill and cover
Add the cherries and top with more sugar.
If desired, add red currants on top.
Cover with a pie lid.
Bake
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until done.
For a deeper color, leave it in the oven for a while after turning it off.
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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Sugar + red curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pie crust
- Forms the container that holds the filling and bakes into a crisp base.
- Cherries
- Make up the filling, supplying the main fruit flavor and juices that thicken as they cook.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and draws juice out of the cherries to form a syrup.
The step that matters
Bake until the filling bubbles. Cherry juices must reach a simmer so the starches and sugar thicken them into a set filling. Underbaked pie stays runny and can make the crust soggy.
“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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