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Apples and Apricots, Ccimpote of

A compote of apples and apricots with sugar, water, custard, and apricot jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and apricot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,630 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Apples and Apricots, Ccimpote of

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan.

  2. Boil for 10 minutes to thicken.

Poach the apples

  1. Add the peeled and cored golden pippins.

  2. Simmer gently until they are clear and soft but not broken.

Assemble and serve

  1. Carefully lift the apples out and place them in a deep glass dish.

  2. Pour cold custard around the apples.

  3. Top each apple with a spoonful of apricot jam.

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.

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. Sugar + apricottop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,630 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Golden pippins
Provide the main fruit, softening to a tender texture while keeping their shape.
Sugar
Sweetens the poaching syrup and helps it thicken slightly as it boils.
Custard
Adds a cool, creamy richness that contrasts with the tender poached fruit.
Apricot jam
Adds concentrated sweetness and apricot flavour on top of each apple.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until the apples are clear and soft but not broken. Gentle heat softens the fruit's cell walls and pectin gradually, so the apples turn tender while holding their shape. A rolling boil would tear the flesh apart.

“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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