Name: McIntosh Apple Pie
Ingredients: 2 Pillsbury pie crusts; 4 McIntosh apples; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 2 cups sugar; ¼ cup flour; 2 cups water; 3½ tablespoons cornstarch; half a lemon's worth of lemon juice; ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

McIntosh Apple Pie

Oven350°F

Time60 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

Core, peel, and slice the apples into ¼ or ⅛-inch segments.
Add lemon juice to the apple segments.
Transfer excess juices to the pie pan.

Make the filling

In a separate boiling pot, set the sugar and water to boil to make a simple syrup.
In a separate bowl, mix the cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and cornstarch.
When the syrup is done boiling, gradually bring all of the ingredients together.

Assemble and bake

Arrange one of the pie crusts on top of the pie pan.
Add the apple filling into the pie pan.
Cover the filling with the other pie crust and make three slits on top.
Bake in the oven at 350°F for 60 minutes or until golden brown.

Cool and serve

Take out the pie and set to cool.
Serve warm with ice cream or frozen custard.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

629Calories

14 gProtein

2 gFat

140 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Pie Crust	not in our table	0
Water	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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

What each ingredient does

Mcintosh apples: Provide the main fruit body and tender texture that softens as the pie bakes.
Cornstarch: Thickens the juices from the apples and syrup so the filling holds together when sliced.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and, dissolved into water, forms the syrup that binds the filling.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and helps slow browning of cut apples.
Flour: Adds additional thickening to the filling alongside the cornstarch.

The step that matters

Combining the syrup and starch mixture. Cornstarch clumps if it hits hot liquid all at once. Adding the starch mixture gradually into the syrup keeps it smooth and lets it thicken evenly.

Swap the apple

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

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Limefits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, sugar, flour, lemon, nutmeg. 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.

Apple Pudding256 recipes

Lemon Cake228 recipes

Lemon Ice147 recipes

Lemon Sherbet103 recipes

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McIntosh Apple Pie