Name: Preserved Apples
Ingredients: one-half cups of flour; two teaspoons of sugar; one-fourth teaspoon of salt; three tablespoons of butter; one-half cup of milk; two teaspoons of lemon juice; one cup of flour; one-half cup of sugar; two tablespoons of butter; one teaspoon of baking powder; two quarts of tart apples; one cup of water; one tablespoon of lemon juice; four tablespoons of powdered sugar; two-thirds full; one-half tea- spoons of baking powder; two-thirds full of apples cut in quar- ters; one-half teaspoon of nutmeg; one egg; two hundred; four well beaten eggs; four eggs; one teaspoon of lemon juice; lemon juice; nutmeg; cinnamon

Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

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.

Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Lemon + teatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together610 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + teatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together738 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Tart apples: Provide the fruit, which softens and holds its flavour during slow baking and preserving.

The step that matters

Baking slowly for several hours. Slow, covered baking softens the apples gently and drives off excess moisture without scorching. Sealing airtight while still hot helps keep the fruit from spoiling.

Swap the apple

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

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Figfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, butter, milk, lemon, tea, 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
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
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Water	not in our table	0

Preserved Apples