Name: Compote of Apple-paste
Ingredients: marmalade of apples; cochineal (for coloring); caramel syrup; cinnamon liqueur

Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Compote of Apple-paste

Ingredients

marmalade of apples
cochineal (for coloring)
caramel syrup
cinnamon liqueur

Directions

Prepare the marmalade

Reduce enough apple marmalade to serve your purpose.
Color half of the marmalade pink with a few drops of cochineal.
Spread each lot about ½ inch thick on clean plates and set aside to stiffen and cool.

Shape and coat

Once cold, cut the marmalade into shapes like squares, diamonds, or leaves.
Dip each piece in caramel syrup using a fork.
Place the dipped pieces on a wire drainer resting on a dish.
Let them dry in a screen for 20 minutes.

Assemble and serve

Arrange the compote in a pyramid shape and pour a little cinnamon liqueur around the base.

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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Syrup + cinnamontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together990 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Apple + syruptop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together742 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Marmalade of apples: Forms the main body of the compote and sets firm as it cools and stiffens.
Caramel syrup: Adds a glossy, sweet coating to each piece of marmalade.
Cinnamon liqueur: Adds aroma and flavor to the dish when poured around the base.

The step that matters

Spreading the marmalade to the right thickness. The marmalade must be spread about ½ inch thick and left to cool fully so it stiffens enough to cut into clean shapes. If it is too thin or still warm, the pieces will be soft and may lose their form when dipped.