Why it works: Cinnamon and apple 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 ↓
A Chartreuse of Apple and Rice
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.
Prepare the filling
Boil the rice with the cinnamon in the milk until thick, stirring in the rose water or orange flower water.
Pare the apples, scoop out the cores, and fill them with raspberry jam.
Assemble the pie
Border a deep dish with pastry.
Place the apples inside, leaving space between them.
Fill the gaps with rice.
Finish and bake
Brush the entire dish with the egg yolk and sprinkle sugar thickly over it.
Decorate the top with sweetmeats and bake for 1 hour at 400°F (200°C).
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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Cinnamon + appletop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Apple + raspberrytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together282 recipes
Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cinnamon + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Thickens the milk into a creamy custard that fills the gaps between the apples.
- Milk
- Cooks with the rice to form a thick, soft filling with moisture.
- Apples
- Provide the main fruit body, softening as they bake while holding their shape.
- Raspberry jam
- Adds concentrated sweetness and fruity flavour inside each apple.
- Egg yolk
- Brushed over the pastry, it helps the surface brown richly as it bakes.
- Pastry
- Forms the deep border that contains the filling while it bakes.
Swap the raspberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, cinnamon, milk, rose, apple, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Raspberrythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, cinnamon, milk, rose, apple, egg, sugar. 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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