Why it works: Apple and goat cheese share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 30 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓
The recipe
Makes 12Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and arrange the 12 baguette slices on a baking sheet.
Brush the bread slices with half of the agave nectar.
In a small bowl, toss the apple slices with the remaining agave nectar and the ground cinnamon, then arrange them on the same sheet beside the bread.
Bake for about 5 minutes, until the bread is lightly golden and the apple slices are tender at the edges.
While the crostini cool slightly, stir the fresh thyme leaves into the goat cheese in a small bowl until well combined and spreadable.
Spread a little goat cheese mixture on each toast, top with an apple slice, and serve.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Apple + goat cheesetop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together30 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Apple + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,586 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Agave + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together130 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Wheat + cinnamontop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together537 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
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Cinnamon + thymetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together369 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Flavor stand-ins for the thyme
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (wheat, apple, agave, cinnamon, goat cheese):
- Nutmegbetter flavor fit
- Gingerbetter flavor fit
- Clovebetter flavor fit
- Thymethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against wheat, apple, agave, cinnamon, goat cheese. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
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