Name: Compote of Pears, a LA Princesse
Ingredients: 7 pears of best quality and equal size; syrup; lemon juice; angelica; large strawberries or stoned cherries

Why it works: Lemon and angelica match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 189 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓

Compote of Pears, a LA Princesse

Ingredients

Directions

Scrape the stalks of the pears and turn them spirally from head to stalk.
Simmer the pears in syrup with a little lemon juice to keep them white.
Once done, steep the pears in their syrup for some time.
Cut off the pointed ends of the pears, leaving about ½ inch of the stalk ends.
Place a similarly sized ring of angelica on each pear.
Set a large strawberry or stoned cherry on top, having passed it through hot syrup.
Run a strip of angelica through all to imitate the stalks of the pears.
When serving, pour some syrup over the compote.

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.

Lemon + angelicatop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together189 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Pear + angelicatop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together39 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Pear + lemontop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together942 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).