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 Taut
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the filling
Scald the apples and let them cool, then remove the skins, cores, and seeds.
Beat the apple pulp as fine as possible with a wooden spoon.
Mix the yolks and whites of the eggs, then beat them together with the apple pulp.
Add grated nutmeg and sweeten to taste.
Line and bake
Melt the butter and beat it to a cream.
Make a paste with the butter and line a pie pan with it.
Pour the apple mixture into the lined pan, leaving it uncovered.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 14 hours.
Serve
Once baked, slip the taut out of the tin onto a dish and sprinkle with finely beaten and sifted sugar or icing sugar.
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.
-
Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,790 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and nutmeg 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
- Form the bulk of the filling and supply moisture and soft texture.
- Eggs
- Set the apple pulp as it bakes and add structure and richness.
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the paste rich and tender.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and the finished dish.
- Nutmeg
- Adds a warm spiced aroma to the apple filling.
The step that matters
Baking uncovered. Heat sets the egg proteins and thickens the apple pulp into a firm, sliceable body. Leaving the pan uncovered lets moisture escape and the surface brown, so the filling holds its shape when turned out.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, nutmeg, butter, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, nutmeg, butter, 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.
You might also like
Apple Pudding256 recipes
Apple Cake80 recipes
Apple Meringue75 recipes
Dried Apple Cake51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.