Why it works: Cinnamon and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,536 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Plain Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Assemble
Line a pie plate with the bottom pastry.
Fill it with sliced sour apples.
Add sugar to sweeten the apples.
Sprinkle a pinch of cinnamon and allspice over the apples.
Cover with the top crust and crimp the edges to seal.
Bake and serve
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until the crust is golden and the apples are thoroughly cooked.
Serve cold for the best flavor.
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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Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Apple + allspicetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together998 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).
-
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Sour apples
- Provide the fruit filling, with tartness that balances the added sugar.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and helps draw out juices during baking.
- Pastry
- Forms the bottom and top crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Bake until the apples are thoroughly cooked. Apples must soften fully inside the pie, while the crust browns. Underbaked apples stay firm and release liquid later, which can make the bottom crust soggy.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, allspice):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangefits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cinnamon, allspice. 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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