Name: Sliced Apple Pie
Ingredients: pie crust; ripe tart apples; sugar; nutmeg or cinnamon; 2 teaspoons butter

Why it works: Apple and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,790 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sliced Apple Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Line a pie pan with the crust.
Pare, core, and thinly slice the apples, then fill the pan.

Season and assemble

Dust the apples with sugar to taste, add a little nutmeg or cinnamon, and place bits of butter on top.
Cover with the top crust, prick holes in it, and bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.

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.

Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,790 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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

Ripe tart apples: Provide the main filling, softening as they bake and releasing juices that moisten the pie.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps draw moisture from the apples, contributing to the filling's syrup.
Butter: Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and helps keep the filling tender.
Pie crust: Forms the structure that holds the filling and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Cover with the top crust, prick holes in it, and bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden.. Pricking vents steam so the filling does not build pressure and push the top crust apart. Baking until golden ensures the crust is set and browned, and the apples are cooked through.