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Dessert

Jellied Apple

A dessert of sliced apples cooked with sugar and water until set, served with cream or custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Jellied Apple

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

  1. Layer the sliced apples in a quart bowl, sprinkling sugar between layers.

  2. Add ½ cup of water and cover the bowl with a weighted saucer.

Bake

  1. Bake slowly at 300°F (150°C) for three hours.

Cool and serve

  1. Let the mixture cool completely before turning it out.

  2. Serve with cream or boiled custard.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Apples
Provide the bulk and pectin that help the mixture set into a soft, jelly-like mass.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and draws moisture out of the apples, helping them soften and turn glossy.

The step that matters

Covering the bowl and baking slowly. The weighted cover traps steam so the apples soften in their own juices, and low, slow heat lets them break down and set as they cool. Higher heat or an uncovered bowl can leave the apples dry or scorched.

“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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