Why it works: Wine and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 31% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,581 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Cherry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Mash the cherries with the meat of the pits in their own juice until tender.
Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove solids.
Add wine, sugar, and spices if desired.
Boil until the sauce reaches the consistency of thick cream.
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.
-
Wine + sugartop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together9,581 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cherries
- Provide the main fruit flavour, natural juice, and body of the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the cherries.
- Wine
- Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Boil until the sauce reaches the consistency of thick cream. Sauce thickens as water evaporates and pectin from the fruit sets as it concentrates. Stopping too early leaves it thin, while overcooking can make it sticky and overly sweet.
“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.
More cherry sauce recipes
You might also like
Wine Sauce (for stewed fruit)186 recipes
Wine Sauce for Sweet Puddings6 recipes
Caper Sauce180 recipes
Brown Sauce141 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.