Why it works: Currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,256 recipes. The science ↓
Currant Pastey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick over the currants thoroughly and rub them through a sieve.
Make the paste
Put the mashed fruit in a pan over the fire, stirring until it forms a paste.
Remove from heat and mix in the sugar.
Boil the mixture for 20 minutes.
Dry and shape
Spread it out on tin plates, cut into shapes, and dry.
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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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
What each ingredient does
- Currants
- Provide the fruit pulp and natural pectin that thicken the mixture into a firm paste.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the paste and, with boiling, helps it set firm and hold its shape when dried.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture for 20 minutes. Sugar and fruit must be cooked long enough to reach a thick, set consistency. Too little boiling leaves a soft paste that will not hold its shape when cut and dried.
“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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