Why it works: Apple and sherry work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 395 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Stuffed Apples
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Remove a thick slice from the stem end of each apple and scoop out the pulp, leaving apple cups.
In a bowl, combine the apple pulp, Maraschino cherries, and pecan nuts.
Fill and bake
Place 1 teaspoon of sugar in each apple cup.
Fill each cup with the fruit and nut mixture.
Bake until the apples are soft but retain their shape.
Finish and serve
Remove from the oven and add 1 teaspoon each of Maraschino liqueur and Sherry to each cup.
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 + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together395 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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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 + nutstop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together237 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + sherrytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Nuts + sugartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,228 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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 edible cups and soften into a tender, moist base when baked.
- Pecan nuts
- Add crunch and a toasty, rich flavour to the soft filling.
- Maraschino cherries
- Add sweetness and concentrated fruit flavour to the filling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the apple cups caramelise lightly as they bake.
The step that matters
Bake until the apples are soft but retain their shape. Overbaking softens the apple walls until they collapse and release their juices, while underbaking leaves them firm and raw-tasting. The cups need enough heat to soften the flesh yet hold their structure to contain the filling.
Swap the nuts
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, sherry):
- Chestnutfits better
- Almondfits better
- Cocoafits better
- Nutsthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, sherry. 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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