Name: Drunken Prunes Recipe
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 60 pitted prunes (about 18 ounces); 2 1/4 cups dry red wine; 1 1/2 cups tawny port; 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; 2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks; 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped, seeds and pod reserved; 1/4 teaspoon fine salt; 3 cups mascarpone cheese; Finely grated zest of 1 1/2 medium lemons

Why it works: Cinnamon and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Drunken Prunes Recipe

10 servings

Ingredients

60 pitted prunes (about 18 ounces)
2 1/4 cups dry red wine
1 1/2 cups tawny port
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped, seeds and pod reserved
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 cups mascarpone cheese
Finely grated zest of 1 1/2 medium lemons

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

337Calories

9 gProtein

22 gFat

21 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 11 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Mascarpone	2 tbsp (28g)	120
Cheese	1 oz (28g) cheddar	113
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Wine	2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)	25
Vanilla	1 tsp extract (4ml)	12
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Prune	not in our table	0
Bean	not in our table	0
Seed	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By chow. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Red wine + cheesetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together105 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (red wine, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, cheese):

Pearfits better
Plumfits better
Figfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against red wine, sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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