Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Line a pie plate with Short Crust.
Fill it two-thirds full with thin slices of sour apples.
Sprinkle sugar mixed with cinnamon or cloves over the apples.
Squeeze lemon juice over the filling and dot with butter.
Assemble and bake
Wet the edges of the undercrust and cover with an upper crust.
Press the edges together to seal.
Brush the top with beaten egg diluted with water or milk.
Sprinkle with coarse sugar and bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,918 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Sour apples
- Provide the main filling and tartness that balances the sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the apples release juice that thickens and browns.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the filling and aids browning of the crust.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the apple flavour and keeps the slices from browning.
- Beaten egg
- Glazes the top crust, promoting an even golden colour and sheen.
The step that matters
Seal the edges together. If the edges are not wetted and pressed firmly, the crust can separate or leak juices during baking, leaving the filling dry or the pie underfilled at the seam.
Swap the currant
The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, cinnamon, lemon, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Pearfits better
- Figfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, cinnamon, lemon, butter, egg. 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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