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Dessert

Apple Meringue and Custard

A baked dessert of stewed apples topped with meringue and a custard made from milk, egg yolks, and cornstarch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Apple Meringue and Custard

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.

Make the apple base

  1. Stew the apples.

  2. Rub the stewed apples through a colander.

  3. Flavor the apples with vanilla or lemon and butter.

  4. Add sugar to the apples to taste.

  5. Pour the apple mixture into a baking dish.

Make the meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites with the powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.

  2. Spread the meringue over the apples.

  3. Brown the meringue in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

Make the custard

  1. Combine the milk, egg yolks, and sugar in a saucepan.

  2. Dissolve the cornstarch in a little hot water.

  3. Add the dissolved cornstarch to the mixture.

  4. Boil the custard mixture until it thickens into a soft custard.

  5. Flavor the custard with vanilla.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Apple + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,501 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  5. Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 bulk and tart fruit flavor of the base once stewed and pureed.
Egg whites
Whip into a foam that sets into a light, stable meringue topping.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they cook with the milk.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that thickens when heated.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard by gelatinizing in hot liquid, giving a smooth set.
Butter
Adds fat and a rounded, rich flavor to the apple base.

The step that matters

Boil the custard mixture until it thickens. Egg yolks and cornstarch must be heated enough to thicken the custard, but overheating can curdle the yolks or leave a lumpy texture. Stir steadily while it thickens.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vanilla, butter, sugar, egg, milk):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vanilla, butter, sugar, egg, milk. 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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