Why it works: Apple and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,706 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the apples
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Pare and quarter the apples, removing the core from each quarter.
Place the apples in a well-buttered deep baking dish.
Add the filling
Cover the apples with a thick layer of sugar.
Add 3 tablespoons of rose water and scatter bits of butter on top.
Top and bake
Roll out the pie crust to create a 1-inch wide rim around the dish.
Fit the crust over the apples and make a small cut in the center for steam to escape.
Bake until the crust is nicely done.
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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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + rosetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together235 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
- Apples
- Form the bulk of the filling and soften as they bake, becoming tender and juicy.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and draws out juice, helping form a syrup around them.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and helping the top crust brown.
- Pie crust
- Encloses the apples as a pastry lid and rim, browning in the oven.
The step that matters
Cutting a steam vent in the crust. Apples release steam as they cook. Without a vent, pressure builds under the crust and can lift or split it, and juices may boil over.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, rose, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, rose, butter. 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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