Why it works: Flour and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,140 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Plain Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, rub together the lard and flour until evenly mixed.
Make a well in the center, add cold water and a little salt, and mix with your fingers.
Spread flour on a surface and knead the dough into a smooth mass.
Roll out the dough, fold it like a napkin, and it's ready to use.
Cover a pie pan with a layer of rolled dough.
Peel and slice the apples, then fill the pie crust.
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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Flour + appletop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,140 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
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