Why it works: Cranberry and sugar work together. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Prune Tart
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Scald the prunes and remove the stones.
Break the prunes into pieces and place them in a pot.
Add the kernels and cranberry juice to the pot.
Stir in sugar and simmer until thick.
Fill and serve
Let the mixture cool, then use it to fill a tart shell.
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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Cranberry + sugartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Prunes
- Provide the main fruit flavour and thick body when simmered down.
- Cranberry juice
- Adds liquid and tartness that helps the prunes soften and cook into a filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps it thicken as it simmers.
The step that matters
Simmer until thick. Cook the mixture long enough for it to thicken fully. Too little cooking leaves a runny filling that won't hold its shape in the tart shell. Letting it cool before filling also helps it set firmly.
“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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