Name: Compote of Pears, Pink
Ingredients: Pears; Prepared cochineal (for color); Syrup; Angelica (for decoration)

Why it works: Pear and angelica work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 39 recipes. Both carry alpha-pinene, which smells pine, turpentine. The science ↓

Compote of Pears, Pink

Ingredients

Pears
Prepared cochineal (for color)
Syrup
Angelica (for decoration)

Directions

Prepare the syrup for simmering the pears.
Add a few drops of prepared cochineal to the syrup to achieve a light pink color.
Simmer the pears in the colored syrup until tender.
Decorate the compote with angelica before serving.

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.

Pear + angelicatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together39 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Pear + syruptop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together254 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Syrup + angelicatop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together111 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).