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Dessert

Stuffed Apples

A baked apple filled with pecan meat, sugar, brandy, and brandied cherries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,291 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Stuffed Apples

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Cut the blossom end off the apples.

  2. Scoop out the center of each apple.

  3. Fill the center with pecan meats.

  4. Add 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of brandy to each apple.

Bake and serve

  1. Place a little water in the baking pan.

  2. Bake until tender but not out of shape.

  3. Just before serving, press 3 or 4 brandied cherries into each apple.

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. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,939 recipes

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

  4. Meat + brandytop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together328 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Apple + meattop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together787 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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
Hold their shape as the filling bakes while the flesh turns soft and tender.
Pecan meats
Add crunch and a toasty, nutty flavor that contrasts with the soft apple.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the filling caramelize slightly in the oven.
Brandy
Adds a warm, aromatic note that carries the flavor of the filling.

The step that matters

Bake until tender but not out of shape. Apples that are overbaked collapse and split, while underbaked ones stay firm and raw-tasting. Baking gently in a little water keeps the flesh intact while the starches soften.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, sugar, brandy):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, sugar, brandy. 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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