Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Apple Omelet
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.
Make the apple base
Stew the apples until very soft.
Mash the apples until smooth.
Add the butter and sugar to the warm apples and mix well.
Bake and serve
Let the mixture cool, then fold in the beaten eggs.
Pour into a shallow pudding dish or two tin plates.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until brown.
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
-
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Tart apples
- Provide the main body and flavor, softening into a smooth, fruity base.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set into a light, custard-like texture when baked.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top brown during baking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, fatty mouthfeel to the apple mixture.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool before folding in the eggs. Hot apples can scramble or partly cook beaten eggs on contact, leading to lumps and an uneven set. Cooling the base first lets the eggs blend in smoothly so the bake sets evenly.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, cinnamon. 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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