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Apple and Peach Meringue Pie

A pie with stewed apples or peaches topped with a sweet meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,790 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple and Peach Meringue Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Stew the apples or peaches and sweeten to taste.

  2. Mash until smooth and season with nutmeg.

  3. Fill the pie crusts and bake until just done without a top crust.

Make the meringue

  1. Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and sweeten with powdered sugar.

  2. Flavor with rose-water or vanilla and beat until it holds its shape.

Assemble and bake

  1. Spread the meringue on the pie, ½ to 1 inch thick.

  2. Return to the oven until the meringue is set.

  3. Serve cold.

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 + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + rosetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  3. Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

  5. Apple + rosetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together235 recipes

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

Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that sets into the light, stable meringue topping.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the egg whites and dissolves easily, helping the meringue stay smooth and stable.
Apples or peaches
Form the fruit filling, providing the main flavor and body of the pie.
Sugar
Sweetens the fruit filling and balances its tartness.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be whipped until they hold firm peaks to trap air and set into a stable meringue. Underwhipped whites stay runny and may weep or collapse in the oven.

Swap the apple

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, nutmeg, egg, rose. 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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