Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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.
Assemble the first crust
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place a pie crust in the bottom of a dish.
Layer sliced apples and powdered sugar alternately until the dish is filled.
Add rose water and cloves.
Cover with another pie crust.
Bake until golden.
Make the filling
Stew apples until done and dry.
Rub through a colander.
Sweeten the apple puree with powdered sugar.
Once cool, mix in egg whites and whipped cream.
Finish and bake
Spread the filling on baked pie crusts.
Grate nutmeg on top.
Add bits of butter.
Cover with another crust.
Bake 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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,790 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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 and its tart, fruity moisture once cooked down.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the apples and helps draw out their juices while layering.
- Egg whites
- Help the cooled filling set and give it a light, stable structure.
- Whipped cream
- Adds a soft, airy texture and richness to the filling.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the top crust brown.
The step that matters
Stew apples until done and dry. Excess water left in the apple puree can thin the filling and make the crust soggy. Cooking the apples down until dry keeps the filling thick enough to hold its shape once the egg whites and cream are added.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, rose, clove, egg, cream, nutmeg, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, rose, clove, egg, cream, nutmeg, butter. 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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