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Dessert

Apple Meringue

A baked pie of stewed apples topped with whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Apple Meringue

Why it works: Apple and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,790 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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 the filling

  1. Pare, slice, and stew the apples until soft.

  2. Mash them smooth or rub through a sieve.

  3. Season with nutmeg or lemon peel.

Bake the crust

  1. Line a generous-sized plate with the pie crust and bake it first at 400°F (200°C).

Assemble and finish

  1. Whip the egg whites with the powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.

  2. Fill the baked crust with the apple mixture.

  3. Spread the whipped egg whites smoothly over the top.

  4. Return to the oven and brown nicely.

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.

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.

  1. Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Nutmeg + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Nutmeg + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Nutmeg and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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
Break down into a soft, sweet filling that gives the pie its body.
Egg whites
Whip into a stiff foam that forms the topping and browns in the oven.
Powdered sugar
Stabilises the whipped egg whites and sweetens the meringue.
Pie crust
Forms the base that holds the filling and is baked before filling.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites to stiff peaks. Egg whites must be whipped until stiff so the foam holds its shape and does not weep or collapse when baked. Any trace of fat or yolk in the bowl can stop them from whipping properly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (nutmeg, egg, sugar):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against nutmeg, egg, sugar. 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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