Why it works: Apple and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,706 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Meringue of Apples
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.
Make the apple filling
Quarter the apples, remove the cores, and slice them.
In a saucepan, combine the apples, butter, and ¼ pound of pounded sugar.
Cook over medium heat for 15 minutes.
Let the mixture cool.
Stir in 2 tablespoons of jam to taste.
Shape the apple mixture into a pyramid in the center of a dish.
Make the meringue and bake
Whip the egg whites until firm.
Gradually add ¼ pound of pounded sugar until glossy.
Spread the meringue over the apples.
Sprinkle with additional sugar.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 10 minutes until pale yellow.
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 + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 its fresh, tart fruit flavor.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, helping the apples cook into a smooth, flavorful mass.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they form the light, stable structure of the meringue topping.
- Pounded sugar
- Sweetens the apples and, dissolved into the whites, stabilizes and glosses the meringue.
- Jam
- Adds concentrated sweetness and fruit flavor to the cooled apple mixture.
The step that matters
Whipping the egg whites and adding the sugar. Egg whites must be whipped until firm and the sugar added gradually so the foam holds its shape and turns glossy. Under-whipped or deflated whites will weep or spread over the apples instead of forming a stable topping.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, 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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