Name: Birds' Nest
Ingredients: 14 cups flour; a pinch of salt; cinnamon; salt

Why it works: Flour and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Birds' Nest

Ingredients

14 cups flour
a pinch of salt
cinnamon
salt

Directions

Prepare

Core apples with an apple corer.
Slice tart apples and place them in a deep buttered pie tin.
Sprinkle the apples with sugar (about % cup), cinnamon, and dot with butter as for pie.

Make the batter

Prepare the batter: In 1 1/4 cups flour, mix a heaping teaspoon of butter, a pinch of salt, and 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
Gradually add % cups of milk to the batter.
Add a beaten egg to the batter last for improvement.

Bake and serve

Pour the batter over the apples.
Bake with plenty of sugar.
Bake for thirty minutes or until the apples are tender.
When done, fill center with broken walnuts and pecans.
Serve hot with sugar and cream.
Serve with whipped cream.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

461Calories

13 gProtein

1 gFat

97 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 3 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

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

By Warren, Pa. Presbyterian church. Second auxiliary missionary society. [from old catalog]. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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. See the original page.

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 + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,341 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

Flour: Forms the batter's structure as it sets around the apples during baking.
Eggs (in the method): Adds richness and helps bind the batter.
Baking powder (in the method): Produces gas that lifts the batter so it bakes lighter.
Apples (in the method): Provide the fruit base that softens and turns tender under the batter.
Milk (in the method): Adds moisture and loosens the batter so it spreads over the apples.