Why it works: Flour and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,140 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fried Apple Pies
Ingredients
Directions
Make the dough
Mix lard, flour, yeast, and enough water to form a stiff batter.
Let the mixture stand until light.
Add a pinch of baking soda and knead until smooth.
Shape and fry
Roll out the dough and cut into rounds using a saucer.
Place a spoonful of apple sauce on one half of each round.
Fold the other half over, pinch the edges to seal, and fry in hot lard.
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.
-
Flour + appletop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,140 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the dough that holds the filling inside the pie.
- Yeast
- Produces gas that makes the dough rise and become light.
- Lard
- Adds fat that tenderizes the dough and crisps the outside when fried.
- Baking soda
- Reacts to give extra lift and a lighter texture to the dough.
- Apple sauce
- Supplies moisture and apple flavor as the filling.
The step that matters
Pinch the edges to seal before frying. If the edges are not sealed tightly, the filling can leak into the hot lard and the pie can open or burst while frying. A firm seal keeps the moist filling enclosed so the dough cooks evenly around it.
“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.
You might also like
Apple Pudding256 recipes
Apple Cake80 recipes
Apple Meringue75 recipes
Dried Apple Cake51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.