Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓
Apples and Apricots, Chartreuse of
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the rice base
In a saucepan, combine the milk, rice, lemon rind or cinnamon, sugar, and butter.
Simmer gently until the milk is nearly absorbed.
Beat the mixture well and layer it at the bottom of a well-buttered pie dish.
Prepare and bake the apples
Pare and core the apples without cutting them through.
Fill each apple cavity with a little butter and sugar.
Arrange the apples in the dish and pour the remaining rice around them, smoothing the surface.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 40 minutes.
Finish and serve
Top each apple with a large spoonful of apricot jam before serving.
Serve with sifted 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.
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Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together777 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + ricetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,366 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Cooks in the milk to form a soft, creamy base that sets around the apples.
- New milk
- Cooks with the rice to create a tender, creamy pudding texture.
- Apples
- Soften as they bake and provide the fruity filling at the center of the dish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the rice and the apple cavities.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the rice and the apple filling and helps the surface brown lightly.
- Apricot jam
- Adds sweetness and fruity flavor when spooned over the hot apples.
The step that matters
Simmer the rice until the milk is nearly absorbed. Rice keeps absorbing liquid as it cooks, so stopping at the right point leaves a creamy, spoonable base. Simmering too long can make it dry and stiff, while stopping too early leaves it soupy and loose once baked.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, rice, sugar, butter, apple, apricot):
- Vanillafits better
- Peachfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, rice, sugar, butter, apple, apricot. 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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