Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Apple Tart, Economical
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the pastry
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
Rub in the clarified beef dripping until well combined.
Add cold water gradually to form a paste.
Roll the paste out two or three times.
Assemble the tart
Line the edge of a pie dish with a paste about ¼ inch thick.
Wet the edges to help the cover adhere.
Pare, core, and quarter the apples.
Place the apples in the dish.
Add a little moist sugar, cloves, and water to the apples.
Cover the dish with the remaining paste.
Trim the edges.
Make a small hole in the center for steam to escape.
Bake
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for one hour.
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 + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,671 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Beef + clovetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,462 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the pastry paste once mixed with water.
- Clarified beef dripping
- Rubbed into the flour to add fat, making the pastry tender and flaky.
- Apples
- Form the filling, softening as they bake and providing the tart's main body.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness to the apple filling and helps it brown slightly.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough to give the pastry some lift.
The step that matters
Make a small hole in the center. The hole lets steam escape from the filling during baking. Without it, trapped steam can build pressure and lift or split the top crust.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, beef, sugar, clove):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, beef, sugar, clove. 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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