Why it works: Sugar and spirit work together. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 602 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Excellent Damson Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Drain off the juice from the damsons, then skin and stone them.
Pour back ⅓ to ½ of the juice into the damsons and weigh the mixture.
Make the cheese
Boil the damsons over a brisk fire until they form a dry paste.
Add 6 ounces of pounded sugar for each pound of damsons and stir until dissolved.
Continue boiling while stirring until the mixture leaves the pan dry and adheres to the spoon.
Test the mixture; it should not stick to your fingers when lightly touched.
Quickly press the mixture into pans or molds.
Cover and store
Cover with paper dipped in spirit and tie another fold over it.
Store in a dry place.
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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Sugar + spirittop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together602 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
- Damsons
- Provide the fruit pulp and natural pectin that set the mixture into a firm paste.
- Pounded sugar
- Sweetens the cheese and, with prolonged boiling, helps it thicken and keep well.
The step that matters
Continue boiling while stirring until the mixture leaves the pan dry. Stopping too early leaves excess moisture, so the cheese will not set firmly and may spoil. Stirring prevents scorching on the bottom of the pan as the sugar concentrates.
“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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