Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Plain Raisin Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Place the raisins and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Stir well, then use a strainer spoon to remove the raisins to another dish.
Carefully drain the liquid back onto the raisins, leaving sediment in the pan.
Add the sugar and cornstarch to the raisin mixture and boil for 1 minute.
Remove from heat, then add lemon juice, butter, and salt.
Assemble and bake
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and cover with a second crust.
Bake until golden brown.
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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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Raisin + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,481 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Raisin + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,742 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Raisins
- Provide the main body and sweet, chewy fruit filling of the pie.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the cooking liquid into a glossy filling that holds its shape when sliced.
- Flour
- Adds body to the pie, working alongside the cornstarch to help set the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the tartness of the lemon juice or vinegar.
- Lemon juice or vinegar
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the raisins and sugar.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth mouthfeel to the finished filling.
The step that matters
Boil the cornstarch mixture for 1 minute. Cornstarch only thickens fully when it is heated to a boil, and the starch granules swell and gelatinize. Boiling for the full minute ensures the filling sets rather than staying runny or tasting of raw starch.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, raisin, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, raisin, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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