Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Fruit Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make a pie crust and place a layer in the bottom of a 2-quart tin basin.
Layer and bake
Add a 2-inch thick layer of chopped sour apples.
Layer chopped raisins on top, then sprinkle with sugar, butter pieces, and spices.
Repeat layering with crust and fruit until the basin is full.
Cover with a final layer of crust.
Bake for 2 hours.
Serve
Once done, turn the pie bottom side up on a plate and sprinkle with fine sugar before serving.
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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the crust that holds the layered apple and raisin filling together.
- Sour apples
- Supply the bulk of the filling and a tart flavour that balances the sugar.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy moisture to the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps draw out juices from the fruit as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavour through the filling.
The step that matters
Layer and bake. Thick fruit layers release a lot of juice as they bake. Layering the filling evenly with crust and covering it fully helps the pie set and keeps the juices from running out, while the low oven heat lets the apples soften through without the crust browning too quickly.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, raisin, sugar, butter, clove, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, raisin, sugar, butter, clove, nutmeg. 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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