Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Apple Pop-overs
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the custard
Make a white roux by stirring 2 tablespoons of flour into 1 tablespoon of hissing butter until thick.
Thin the roux with 2 cups of scalding milk and stir for 2 minutes.
Pour the mixture over the beaten yolks of 4 eggs.
Add a bit of baking soda to the hot milk.
Grate 6 peeled pippin apples directly into the custard mixture.
Bake and serve
Whip the stiffened egg whites and fold them into the mixture.
Half fill greased custard cups with the mixture.
Set the cups in a pan of hot water and bake at 400°F (200°C) until puffed and lightly browned.
Turn out onto hot plates and serve with brandy sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,291 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard while whipped whites lift and set the puffed structure.
- Flour
- Forms a roux with butter that thickens the milk into a stable base.
- Pippin apples
- Add moisture, sweetness and apple flavour to the batter.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that cooks and sets around the eggs.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the hot milk to help the popovers rise and brown.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites must be stiffly beaten and folded gently so air is kept in the batter. Overmixing deflates them, and the popovers will not puff well in the oven.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, milk, egg, brandy, sauce):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, milk, egg, brandy, sauce. 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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