Why it works: Raisin and flour 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 ↓
Raisin Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the raisins
Cut raisins in halves and remove seeds.
Cover with cold water and let stand overnight.
Stew in the same water until raisins look clear, adding more water if needed.
Fill and bake
When cool, add sugar, lemon rind, lemon juice, and salt or butter.
Dredge raisins lightly with flour before placing the upper crust.
Bake with two crusts.
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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Raisin + flourtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + flourtop 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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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Butter and flour 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 filling, becoming sweet and soft as they stew and swell with water.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the tartness of the lemon.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweet raisin filling.
- Flour
- Lightly dredged on the raisins to help thicken the juices as the pie bakes.
The step that matters
Stewing the raisins until clear. Raisins must be softened fully in the water before filling, or they stay tough and the pie's juices will not thicken evenly. Adding water only as needed keeps the mixture from scorching while it cooks.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, sugar, butter, flour):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, sugar, butter, flour. 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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