Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Creamed Apple Pie
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 the apples
Pare, quarter, and core the baking apples.
Mix in enough sugar to sweeten the apples.
Grate in some lemon peel and add the cloves and water.
Bake the pie
Place an edging of puff pastry around a pie dish and cover the apples with a thin crust of pastry.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the apples are soft.
Make the decorations and custard
Make extra puff pastry decorations and cut into stars or leaves.
Brush the decorations with egg white, sprinkle with sugar, and lightly moisten with water before baking them.
Prepare boiled custard (see separate recipe).
Assemble and serve
Once the apples are baked and cooled, remove the crust and cover the apples with cold custard.
Decorate the top with the baked pastry leaves and stars.
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 + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Lemon + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Baking apples
- Their firm flesh holds its shape and softens as it bakes, forming the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and adds flavour to the filling.
- Puff pastry
- Its layers puff and crisp in the oven, forming the edging, crust and decorations.
- Egg white
- Brushed on the decorations, it helps them brown and gives a glossy finish.
The step that matters
Baking the apples until soft. Apples must be fully softened before cooling, since cold, undercooked fruit stays firm and tough. Baking until tender also lets the flavours concentrate and the filling set into a spoonable texture.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, lemon, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, lemon, 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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