Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Apple Meringue
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.
Prepare and bake
Butter a pudding dish and fill it with apple sauce.
Cover and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until hot.
Add meringue and serve
Remove from the oven and spread with meringue made from whipped egg whites and powdered sugar.
Return to the oven briefly to lightly brown the meringue.
Serve nearly or completely cold with sugar and cream.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sauce + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sauce + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into meringue, they create a light, airy foam that sets and browns on top.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the meringue and dissolves easily into the whipped whites for a smooth, stable topping.
- Apple sauce
- Forms the moist, soft base of the dish that the meringue sits on.
- Cream
- Adds richness and fat that contrasts with the tart apple and sweet meringue.
The step that matters
Browning the meringue. Meringue can weep or turn tough if overbaked, and it only needs a brief stint in the oven to take on color. Watching it closely keeps the topping soft and lightly golden rather than dry or scorched.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, egg, sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, egg, sugar, cream. 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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