Name: Really Sweet Eton Mess
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: 1 tub of mascarpone cheese; 1 large tub of double cream; Â½ packet of meringue nests; Â½ packet of brandy snaps; Half box of cheap liqueur chocolates (cherry works well); 2 packets of either: Raspberries, blackberries, chopped strawberries, stoned cherries ( or use some of each); 2 tbsp chestnut puree (you can buy this in tins)

Why it works: Chocolate and cherry work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 575 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

1 tub of mascarpone cheese
1 large tub of double cream
Â½ packet of meringue nests
Â½ packet of brandy snaps
Half box of cheap liqueur chocolates (cherry works well)
2 packets of either: Raspberries, blackberries, chopped strawberries, stoned cherries (or use some of each)
2 tbsp chestnut puree (you can buy this in tins)

Directions

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

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Chocolate + cherrytop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together575 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
Cream + chocolatetop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together5,463 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Chocolate + chestnuttop 5% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together76 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Brandy + chocolatetop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together287 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Cherry + chestnuttop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlapstrong

Mentioned together30 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl pentanoate (yeast, fruit).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the chestnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cheese, cream, brandy, chocolate, cherry):

Almondbetter flavor fit
Walnutbetter flavor fit
Pecansbetter flavor fit
Chestnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cheese, cream, brandy, chocolate, cherry. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

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