Why it works: Apple and beer share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 59 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Apple Pie
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Prepare the pie crust and fill it with sliced apples.
Bake and glaze
Bake the pie until three-quarters done.
Whisk the egg white in a bowl until frothy.
Brush the frothy egg white over the pie.
Sprinkle sifted sugar on top and add a few drops of water.
Finish baking
Return the pie to the oven and finish baking, watching carefully to prevent burning.
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 + beertop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together59 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + beertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together699 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + eggtop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,461 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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
- Provide the bulk of the filling, softening as they bake and releasing juices that moisten it.
- Egg white
- Brushed on top, it sets into a glossy, lightly browned finish.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pie and helps the top caramelise and brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Finish baking. Egg white and sugar on the surface brown quickly at high heat, so the top can scorch before the apples are fully tender. Watching closely lets you pull the pie at the right moment.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, beer):
- Vanillafits better
- Applethe original
- Lemonfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, beer. 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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