Why it works: Cranberry and almond share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 41 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-methylbutanol, which smells malty, whiskey. The science ↓
The recipe
1 cupIngredients
Contains: tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Finely chop the dried cranberries, shallot and parsley if not already chopped.
In a jar or bowl, whisk the cranberry juice, lemon juice, sugar, salt, garlic powder, crushed red pepper flakes and ground almonds until the sugar and salt dissolve.
Stir in the chopped dried cranberries, shallot and parsley.
Slowly whisk in the vegetable oil until the dressing looks slightly thickened and emulsified.
Taste and adjust with more salt or sugar as needed.
Let stand 10 minutes so the flavors meld, then whisk again before serving. Cover and refrigerate if not using within a day.
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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Cranberry + almondtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together41 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-methylbutanol (malty, whiskey).
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,036 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Lemon + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Shallot + parsleytop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,718 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the garlic
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cranberry, lemon, shallot, parsley, almond, pepper, sugar):
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
- Marjorambetter flavor fit
- Garlicthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cranberry, lemon, shallot, parsley, almond, pepper, sugar. 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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