Name: Apple Soup. No. 1.
Ingredients: 4 cups peeled and quartered apples; 1½ pints water; 1 teaspoon cornstarch; 3 teaspoons sugar; ¼ teaspoon cinnamon; a pinch of salt

Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 5,598 recipes mention both. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Apple Soup. No. 1.

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the apples in water until soft and mushy.
Add cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
Stir well and serve warm or cold.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Aroma overlapmoderate

Mentioned together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together16,478 recipes

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

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,779 recipes mention both: they likely 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 soft pulp that gives the soup its body and mild sweetness.
Cornstarch: Thickens the cooking liquid so the soup becomes smooth and lightly viscous.
Sugar: Adds sweetness that balances the tartness of the apples.

“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.