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
Pare and core twelve apples, slice them tolerably thick.
Put a pound of loaf sugar in a stew pan, with a pint of water and twelve cloves.
Boil and skim the mixture.
Stew the apples
Add the sliced apples to the pan.
Stew the apples until the syrup is clear and only a little remains.
Lay the apples in a deep dish and remove the cloves.
Finish with custard
When the apples are cold, pour in a quart of rich boiled custard.
Set the custard in water and boil until the custard is set.
Take care that water does not get into the custard.
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
- Provide the main body and tart flavor, and hold their shape when sliced thick and stewed.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and, dissolved with water, forms the syrup that the apples cook in.
- Rich boiled custard
- Supplies a creamy, rich layer that sets with gentle heat over the apples.
- Cloves
- Add a warm, spiced aroma to the syrup while the apples stew.
The step that matters
Setting the custard in water. Custard thickens and sets when its proteins gently coagulate under steady, moderate heat. Water getting into the custard dilutes it and spoils its texture, so it must stay dry and the heat must be controlled.
“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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