Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Spiced Pears
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the syrup and pears
Pare the pears.
In a pot, combine the vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil.
Mix the spices and divide them into four parts; place each part in a small square of muslin and tie tightly.
Add the spice bags to the boiling vinegar and sugar mixture.
Once hot, add the pears and bring to a boil.
Remove from heat and transfer to a stone jar; let sit in a cool place overnight.
Drain and reheat daily
The next day, drain the liquid from the pears into a porcelain-lined kettle.
Heat the liquid over moderate heat until boiling, then pour it back into the jar with the pears.
Repeat this process of draining and heating for nine consecutive days.
Finish and store
On the last day, boil the liquid down until it just covers the fruit, then bring it all to a boil and transfer to jars or tumblers for storage.
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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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Ginger + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,038 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pears
- Form the main fruit that absorbs the syrup and gives the preserve its body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and thickens the syrup as it is boiled down.
- Vinegar
- Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and helps preserve the fruit.
- Ginger root
- Adds a warm, sharp aroma that carries through the syrup into the fruit.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm, sweet spice aroma to the syrup.
The step that matters
Heating the drained liquid to a full boil each day. Bringing the syrup back to a full boil every day keeps it hot enough to penetrate the fruit and helps preserve it. Repeated heating also concentrates the syrup over the nine days.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pear, sugar, vinegar, ginger, clove, allspice, cinnamon):
- Cardamomfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Turmericfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pear, sugar, vinegar, ginger, clove, allspice, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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