Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Apple Pie
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place a pie crust in the bottom of a pie dish.
Fill the pie
Layer the sliced apples on the crust, followed by a layer of powdered sugar.
Repeat the layers until the dish is full.
Drizzle the rose water over the top and sprinkle with ground cloves.
Cover with the second pie crust and seal the edges.
Bake
Bake in the preheated oven until the crust is golden brown.
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.
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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Rose + clovetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together410 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + rosetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together235 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,584 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 of the filling and release moisture as they cook, becoming tender.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps draw moisture out of the apples to form a syrup.
- Ground cloves
- Adds warm, aromatic spice that stands out against the sweet apples.
- Rose water
- Adds a delicate floral aroma to the filling.
The step that matters
Sealing the edges. Apples release a lot of juice as they cook. If the top crust is not sealed well, the juices can leak and bubble out, leaving the filling dry and the crust soggy.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, rose):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Gingerfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, rose. 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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