Name: Apple Pie
Ingredients: plain pie crust; pared and sliced apples; ½ cup sugar; butter (optional); nutmeg

Why it works: Apple and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,790 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Assemble

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Cover a deep pie plate with the pie crust and fill it with the sliced apples.
Cover the apples with another layer of pie crust, rolled slightly thicker than the bottom crust.
Press the edges together and bake for 30 minutes.

Finish and cool

Once cooked, remove the top crust and add bits of butter and ½ cup of sugar dissolved in a few tablespoons of water.
Grate a little nutmeg over the mixture, replace the top crust, and let it cool.

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.

Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,790 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Plain pie crust: Forms the base and top that enclose the filling and hold it together while baking.
Apples: Supply the fruit filling, which softens as it bakes.
Sugar: Sweetens the filling and dissolves into a syrup that moistens the apples.
Butter: Adds richness and fat that carries flavour into the filling.
Nutmeg: Adds a warm aroma that complements the cooked apples.