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Dessert

Apple Meringue

A dessert of stewed apples topped with baked meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Apple Meringue

Why it works: Apple and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,501 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Apple Meringue

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the apples

  1. Stew and sweeten the apples until soft.

  2. Mash the apples smooth and flavor with lemon juice or grated peel.

  3. Place the apple mixture in a dessert dish.

Make the meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff, then gradually add powdered sugar and vanilla.

  2. Spread the meringue thickly over the apples.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the meringue is set.

  2. Serve cold.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,501 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 main fruit body and tart flavor that balances the sweet meringue.
Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping and sets when baked.
Powdered sugar
Stabilizes the whipped egg whites and sweetens the meringue topping.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the apple flavor and keeps it from tasting flat.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must be whipped to stiff peaks to trap air, which gives the meringue its volume. Sugar added gradually dissolves into the foam and helps it hold, so the topping stays airy and sets properly in the oven.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, egg, sugar, vanilla):

  1. Pearfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, egg, sugar, vanilla. 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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