Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Baked Apples
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
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cut off the blossom end of the apples and remove the stems.
Wash the apples and pack them in a pudding dish.
Sprinkle sugar on top of each apple.
Pour water into the bottom of the dish.
Cover the dish with another dish or pan.
Bake and serve
Steam in the oven until the apples are tender, about 30–40 minutes.
Pour the cooking liquid over the apples while hot and repeat as they cool.
Chill in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.
Transfer to a glass dish and pour the juice over them again.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Apples
- Form the body of the dish and soften into a tender, edible structure when steamed.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the cooking liquid taste rich and syrupy.
- Water
- Creates steam and a cooking liquid that keeps the apples moist as they bake.
The step that matters
Steam in the oven until the apples are tender. Covering the dish traps steam so the apples cook through evenly. Pulling them too early leaves the flesh firm, while overcooking makes them collapse and lose their shape.
“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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