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Dessert

Apple Float

A chilled dessert of stewed apples folded with eggs and whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 Float

Ingredients

Directions

Make the apple base

  1. Stew the apples with water, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, and butter in a covered saucepan until tender.

  2. Rub the pulp through a sieve.

  3. Add the 2 whole eggs to the pulp and mix well.

Finish and serve

  1. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold them into the apple mixture.

  2. Serve chilled.

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 + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Lemon + clovetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooking apples
Provide the pulp that forms the body and flavour of the dessert.
Eggs
Add richness and help set the mixture to a light, custard-like texture.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the float its airy, light structure.
Sugar
Sweetens the apples and helps balance the tartness of the fruit and lemon.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, rounder mouthfeel in the apple pulp.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites need to be whipped until they hold stiff peaks so they trap air. Under-whipped whites collapse when folded in, leaving the float dense and flat.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, lemon, sugar, butter, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, lemon, sugar, butter, egg. 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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