Why it works: Peach and red currant work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 33 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓
Peach Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Divide the peaches and place them in a saucepan with water and crushed sugar.
Add the blanched and shredded peach kernels.
Boil the mixture until it becomes a pulp.
Rub the purée through a fine sieve.
Reheat the purée and add red currant juice or lemon juice, and more sugar if needed.
Stir in brandy if desired.
Serve hot or cold; if serving cold, chill in the refrigerator for an hour.
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.
-
Peach + red curranttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together33 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
-
Peach + brandytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together339 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Red currant + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together105 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
-
Sugar + peachtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,308 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and brandy barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
Swap the red currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, peach, brandy):
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Plumfits better
- Red currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, peach, brandy. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.