Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Fruit Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make a pie crust using the flour.
Layer the pie
Place a layer of crust in the bottom of a 2-quart tin basin.
Add a 2-inch thick layer of chopped sour apples.
Layer chopped raisins on top of the apples.
Sprinkle sugar, pieces of butter, and spices over the raisins.
Repeat layering with crust and fruit until the dish is full.
Cover with a final layer of crust on top.
Bake and serve
Bake for 2 hours.
Invert onto a plate and sprinkle with fine sugar before serving.
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.
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.
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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the pie crust that holds the layers together.
- Sour apples
- Provide the main fruit body and tartness that balances the sweetness.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture between the apple layers.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps draw out juices from the fruit during baking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the filling as it melts during baking.
The step that matters
Covering the layers before baking. The sealed crust traps steam so the apples cook through and soften, while the full dish keeps the layers from drying out or collapsing unevenly.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, raisin, sugar, butter, clove, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, raisin, sugar, butter, clove, 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.
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