Why it works: Currant and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,256 recipes. The science ↓
Currants, Compote of
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick and rinse the currants if dusty.
Cook and cool
Make a syrup by boiling water and sugar together.
Once the syrup boils, drop in the currants and simmer for a few minutes.
Cover and let cool; the steam will finish cooking the fruit.
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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Currant + sugartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,256 recipes
Currant and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,256 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
- Currants
- Provide the tart fruit that forms the body and flavour of the compote.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart fruit and helps the syrup hold the currants together.
- Water
- Dissolves the sugar to make the syrup that cooks the fruit gently.
The step that matters
Simmering the currants for only a few minutes. Currants are delicate and can burst and turn mushy if cooked too long. A brief simmer in hot syrup softens them while they keep their shape and bright colour.
“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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