Name: Dave’s Basic Apple Pie
Ingredients: 5 or 6 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced; ½ lemon, zested and juiced; 1 cup sugar; ⅓ cup flour; 1 tbsp arrowroot or cornstarch; 1 pinch of salt; 1 tsp allspice; 3 tbsp butter; 2 prepared pie crusts, or your favorite recipe

Why it works: Flour and arrowroot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 525 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Dave’s Basic Apple Pie

Oven350°F

Time45 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Put apple slices in a large bowl and add the zest and lemon juice, then toss to coat the apples.
In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, arrowroot, salt, and allspice; mix thoroughly.
Add the sugar mixture to the apples and stir gently to coat.

Assemble the pie

Place the bottom crust into a 10‑inch pie pan and top with apple mixture.
Dot the top of the apples with pea‑sized pieces of butter.
Top with second crust and crimp edges.
Make four small slits in the crust for steam to escape.
Wrap the edge of the pie with a piece of tin foil that just covers the crimped crust.
Place the pie on a cookie sheet lined with foil for easy clean‑up.

Bake and cool

Bake for 45 minutes.
Remove foil and return to oven for about 30 minutes.
Wait until the juices show signs of thickening.
Place on a wire cooling rack for an hour or so before slicing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

718Calories

14 gProtein

13 gFat

138 gCarbs

Counts 7 of 9 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Allspice	1 tsp ground (1.9g)	5
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Arrowroot	not in our table	0
Pie Crust	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.

Flour + arrowroottop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together525 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Lemon + arrowroottop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together553 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Arrowroot + allspicetop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together45 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Lemon + allspicetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,083 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Granny smith apples: Provide the main body of the filling, holding shape while softening as they bake.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps draw out juices that thicken into a syrup.
Flour: Thickens the juices as they bake, giving the filling a set consistency.
Arrowroot or cornstarch: Thickens the filling clearly, setting the juices when heated.
Butter: Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and browns the top crust.
Lemon: Adds acidity that brightens the apple flavor and balances the sweetness.

The step that matters

Let the pie cool before slicing. The starches in the juices keep thickening as the pie cools. Cutting too early lets the filling run out before it sets.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, flour, arrowroot, allspice, butter):

Limefits better
Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, flour, arrowroot, allspice, 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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Dave’s Basic Apple Pie