Why it works: Sugar and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 20% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,212 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Flummery
Ingredients
Directions
Steep the oatmeal
Cover the oatmeal with cold water and let it steep for 24 hours.
Pour off the water and add more cold water, steeping for another 24 hours.
Cook and serve
Strain through a fine sieve, add the salt, and boil until thick, stirring constantly.
Stir in the sugar and orange flower water, then pour into shallow dishes.
Serve with milk or sugar.
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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Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and orange barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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
- Small white oatmeal
- Its starch thickens as it cooks, giving the flummery its body.
- Orange flower water
- Adds a floral aroma that flavours the set dish.
- White sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the mild, savoury oat flavour.
The step that matters
Boil until thick, stirring constantly. Starch thickens as it heats and can scorch or form lumps on the base of the pan if left unstirred. Constant stirring keeps the mixture smooth and evenly thickened.
“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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