Why it works: Apple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,551 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Apple Pie
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.
Prepare the filling
Stew the apples a day before using.
Chop the apples very finely in an earthen dish.
Sweeten the apples to taste.
Add the beaten yolk of one egg and the butter.
Season with grated lemon rind.
Bake
Bake with one crust at 350°F (175°C).
Add the beaten egg white on top and 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.
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the bulk and tart fruit flavour of the filling, along with moisture that cooks down.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and balances their tartness.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches the filling and helps it set into a thick, cohesive texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel in the filling.
- Egg white
- Brushed over the top, it promotes browning and a glossy surface.
- Pie crust
- Holds the filling in shape and forms the structure of the pie.
The step that matters
Stew the apples a day before using. Cooking the apples ahead softens them and drives off some of their water. Raw, juicy apples release liquid in the oven, which can make the filling runny and the bottom crust soggy.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, lemon. 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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