Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
A Nice Dessert Dish
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
In a large bowl, layer the sliced apples and sugar alternately.
Add the water and cover the bowl with a saucer, securing it with a weight.
Bake and serve
Bake in a slow oven at 300°F (150°C) for three hours.
Let it cool, then turn out the dessert to reveal a round mass of clear red slices in firm jelly.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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 dessert and, as they soften, the fruit that sets in the jelly.
- Sugar
- Draws juice out of the apples and adds sweetness that helps the mass set.
- Water
- Adds moisture so the apples can soften and release their juices during slow baking.
The step that matters
Baking low and slow for three hours. A slow oven lets the apples soften and release juice gradually, so the sugar can dissolve and the mixture can thicken into a firm jelly rather than scorching or staying loose.
“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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