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Dessert

How We Cook in Texxessee

A set of apple desserts from a Tennessee cookbook page, including compote, apple float, and baked apples.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Jackson (Tenn.). First Baptist Church. The Silver Thimble Society · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,207 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

How We Cook in Texxessee

Ingredients

Directions

Poach and set

  1. Remove the apples from the syrup with a skimmer to keep them from breaking.

  2. Repeat until all the apples are cooked.

  3. Pour the remaining syrup over them.

  4. Serve cold.

  5. Pare the apples, cut out the core, leaving them whole.

  6. Make a syrup allowing three-quarters pound sugar to one pound fruit.

  7. When the syrup comes to a boil, put in the fruit and let cook until clear but still whole.

  8. Remove the fruit to a glass bowl.

  9. Dissolve one-third box gelatine in half teacup hot water.

  10. Take the syrup off the fire, then stir the gelatine into it briskly.

  11. Strain the syrup over the apples and set in a cool place to cool.

  12. When cold, heap whipped cream over it.

  13. Sliced lemons may be added to the syrup.

Whip the apple foam

  1. To one quart stewed apples run through a sieve, add the well beaten whites of three or four eggs.

  2. Beat until very light.

  3. Flavor with lemon or vanilla.

  4. Any tart apple cooks better than sweet ones.

Bake or steam the apples

  1. Pare, core and bake wine saps with the centers filled with sugar and a mixture of chopped raisins, dates or chopped nuts.

  2. Put them into a shallow earthen dish with water sufficient to cover the bottom.

  3. Bake in a quick oven, basting often with the syrup.

  4. If inclined to brown too quickly, cover them with a granite ware pie plate.

  5. Pare eight or ten tart wine sap apples and remove the cores.

  6. Put them in a broad shallow pan with hot water to cover the bottom.

  7. Cover tightly and place over the fire until the steam cooks them tender.

  8. Do not allow them to fall to pieces.

Make the pineapple syrup

  1. Make a syrup by dissolving half cup sugar in one pint hot water.

  2. Add three teaspoons juice of canned pineapple.

  3. Pour over the apples while both are hot.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

438Calories
11 gProtein
25 gFat
43 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 7 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pine1 oz (28g)191
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Fruitnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

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

By Jackson (Tenn.). First Baptist Church. The Silver Thimble Society. 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.

  1. Apple + winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Apple + pinetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Sugar + appletop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Pine + winetop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together144 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

Sugar and apple barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Tart apples
Their firm flesh holds its shape when cooked and gives the dish its body.
Sugar
Sweetens the syrup and helps the fruit hold its form as it cooks.
Eggs
Beaten whites trap air, creating a light, foamy texture.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled syrup so it holds a firm, jelly-like shape.
Pineapple juice
Adds acidity and fruity aroma to the syrup.

The step that matters

Cook the fruit in the syrup until clear but still whole. Heat softens the apple's cell walls and pectin, so prolonged boiling makes the fruit break apart. Keep the syrup at a gentle simmer and remove the apples as soon as they are tender.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pine, egg, wine):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pine, egg, wine. 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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