Name: Shad Apple Pie
Ingredients: sliced apples; 1 cup sugar; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; pie crust

Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Shad Apple Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Fill a deep pie plate with sliced apples.
Cover with a rich pie crust (no under crust).
Bake the pie until golden brown.

Mix and serve

Break the crust into the apples and mix well.
Add sugar, butter, and cinnamon; mix thoroughly.
Transfer to a pudding dish and press down.
Let cool, then slice and serve with cream if desired.

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.

Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together17,784 recipes

Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Sliced apples: Form the bulk of the filling and release moisture as they cook.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the apples caramelize slightly.
Butter: Adds fat and richness to the filling.
Ground cinnamon: Adds warm aroma that complements the apples.
Pie crust: Forms a rich, browned top layer that encloses the filling.