Why it works: Sugar and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,182 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
An Apple Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Pare and core twelve apples, slicing them tolerably thick.
Put a pound of loaf sugar in a stew pan with a pint of water and twelve cloves.
Boil the mixture and skim it.
Stew and set
Add the sliced apples to the pan and stew them until clear, with only a little syrup remaining.
Lay the stewed apples in a deep dish and remove the cloves.
When the apples are cold, pour in a quart of rich boiled custard that has been set in water.
Boil the custard mixture until the custard is set, taking care that water does not get into it.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 4 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Clove | 1 tsp ground (2g) | 7 |
| Stew | 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.
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.
-
Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together17,182 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 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
- Pippin apples
- Firm flesh holds its shape through stewing and forms the body of the dessert.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the poaching syrup and helps the apples turn clear as they stew.
- Rich boiled custard
- Adds richness and a creamy texture, and sets to hold the dessert together.
- Cloves
- Infuse the syrup with a warm spiced aroma while the apples stew.
The step that matters
Setting the custard. Custard is thickened by egg proteins, which curdle if overheated. Water getting into the custard dilutes it and stops it setting smoothly, so heat gently and keep it dry.
“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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