Why it works: Egg and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 33% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Queen's Apple and Onion Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Cut the onions and apples into slices.
Stew the sliced onions and apples gently, without adding water, with 1 oz of butter, spice, and seasoning until quite tender.
Mix the breadcrumbs with the eggs, well beaten, and enough hot milk to smooth the breadcrumbs.
Assemble and bake
Butter a pie dish with 1/2 oz of butter.
Place a layer of breadcrumbs in the dish.
Place a layer of the stewed apples and onions.
Repeat the layers of breadcrumbs and apples–onions until the dish is full, finishing with a layer of breadcrumbs.
Place the remaining butter on top in small bits.
Bake the pie for 1 hour.
Serve
Serve with brown gravy.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 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.
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.
-
Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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
- Breadcrumbs
- Form the bulk of the layers and absorb moisture from the stewed fruit and eggs.
- Eggs
- Bind the breadcrumbs together and help the pie set as it bakes.
- Apples (in the method)
- Provide moisture, tartness, and soft texture that contrasts with the crumbs.
- Onions (in the method)
- Add savoury flavour and soften into the layered filling as they stew.
The step that matters
Stewing the onions and apples. Cooking them without added water until fully tender drives off excess moisture, so the filling does not make the breadcrumb layers soggy or leave the pie watery.
“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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