Name: Old-Fashioned Mixed-Apple Pie
Ingredients: 3 cups all purpose flour; 1/4 cup sugar; 1 1/4 teaspoons salt; 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes; 1/3 cup non-hydrogenated solid vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces, frozen; 6 tablespoons (or more) ice water; 2 1/4 pounds assorted apples (such as Pink Lady, Pippin, and Golden Delicious), peeled, quartered, cored, cut into 1/2-inch-thick wedges; 1/3 cup sugar; 1/4 cup golden or dark raisins; 2 1/2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca; 1 1/2 teaspoons (packed) finely grated lemon peel; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg or ground nutmeg; 1 1/2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs; 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into1/2-inch cubes; Milk (for glaze); 1 tablespoon raw sugar*

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

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.

Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,075 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,377 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter, raisin, lemon, nutmeg, milk):

Vanillafits better
Figfits better
Coconutfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, raisin, lemon, nutmeg, milk. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Vegetable	1 tbsp (14g)	120
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Cracker	5 saltine crackers (15g)	66
Grape	1/2 cup (76g)	62
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Old-Fashioned Mixed-Apple Pie