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Dessert

Beignets De Pommmes

Apple slices are marinated in sugar and brandy, then fried until golden and crispy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,291 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Beignets De Pommmes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the apples

  1. Core the apples and peel them.

  2. Slice each apple into 5 to 6 pieces.

  3. Marinate the apple slices for 15 minutes with sugar and brandy.

  4. Pat the slices dry with a cloth.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat oil in a frying pan.

  2. Fry the apple slices until golden brown and crispy.

  3. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with sugar.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 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
Provide the fruit that becomes tender inside while the outside fries crisp.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the slices caramelize and brown in the frying oil.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor to the apple slices during marinating.

The step that matters

Pat the slices dry. Surface moisture cools the hot oil and causes splatter and steaming instead of crisp browning. Drying the slices before frying helps the batter-free surface brown and crisp properly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, brandy. 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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