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Dessert

Grated Apple Pie

A pie made with grated apples, raisins, almonds, lemon rind, eggs, cream, and sugar, topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Raisin and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Grated Apple Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the filling

  1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar until creamy.

  2. Stir in the grated apple and mix well.

  3. Add the cream, grated lemon rind, a few grated almonds, and a few raisins.

Bake and top

  1. Line a pie pan with rich pastry and pour in the mixture.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until light brown.

  3. Spread the top with meringue made from beaten egg whites and 6 tablespoons of sugar, then brown lightly.

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. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Apple + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,920 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + raisintop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,481 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken the filling as it sets, and whites form the meringue topping.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue brown.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, softening the set filling.
Apple
Adds moisture and body to the filling.
Lemon rind
Adds bright aroma without much liquid.

The step that matters

Browning the meringue. Meringue browns quickly because its sugar caramelizes in the oven heat. Watch it closely, since removing it too late can scorch the peaks while the filling underneath stays soft.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, sugar, lemon, raisin, almond):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, sugar, lemon, raisin, almond. 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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