Name: A Gooseberry Apricot, or Apple Trifle
Ingredients: 3 cups gooseberries (or apples or apricots); 1 teaspoon grated ginger (for gooseberries); 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (for apples); 1 tablespoon lemon juice (for apricots); 2 cups rich custard; Froth (for topping)

Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓

A Gooseberry Apricot, or Apple Trifle

Ingredients

3 cups gooseberries (or apples or apricots)
1 teaspoon grated ginger (for gooseberries)
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind (for apples)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (for apricots)
2 cups rich custard
Froth (for topping)

Directions

Make the fruit base

Scald the gooseberries (or apples or apricots) and pulp them through a sieve.
Sweeten the pulp to taste.
For gooseberries, add grated ginger; for apples, add grated lemon rind; for apricots, add lemon juice.

Assemble and top

Pour the rich custard over the fruit mixture.
Top with froth.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together777 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
Ginger + lemontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,154 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together341 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Apple + gingertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,424 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Lemon + apricottop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,098 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

Gooseberries: Provides the main fruit flavour and a tart base for the trifle.
Rich custard: Adds creamy richness and a smooth layer that softens the fruit pulp.