Why it works: Spirit and camphor work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 207 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Soak the quince seed in warm water for several hours.
Strain the mixture, then add glycerin and dissolve the borax in it.
Dissolve the oil of bitter almonds in the camphor and gradually add it to the mucilage.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Spirit + camphortop 4% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together207 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Quince + almondtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together69 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Quince + spirittop 10% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together9 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Spirit + almondtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together143 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Camphor + almondtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together85 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the quince
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spirit, camphor, almond):
- Orangebetter flavor fit
- Limebetter flavor fit
- Cherrybetter flavor fit
- Quincethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against spirit, camphor, almond. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
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