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Dessert

Coddled Apples

A dessert of boiled apples simmered in sugar and lemon, then set in a gelatinous syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Coddled Apples

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the apples

  1. Pare and core the tart apples.

  2. Pour enough boiling water over the apples to cover them.

  3. Simmer until nearly done.

  4. Remove the apples.

  5. Lay the apples on a dish to cool.

Make the syrup

  1. Add 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 sliced lemon to the boiling water.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  3. Return the apples to the pot.

  4. Cook until clear.

  5. Remove the apples again.

  6. Place the apples in a fruit dish.

  7. Strain the juice.

Set and serve

  1. Add ¼ box of gelatine dissolved in enough cold water to cover it.

  2. Let the mixture boil.

  3. Pour the mixture over the apples.

  4. Set aside to 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.

  1. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Tart apples
Provide the main fruit body that holds its shape while poaching and cooking.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the poaching liquid and helps build the syrup.
Gelatine
Sets the strained syrup into a firm, jelly-like coating around the apples as it cools.
Lemon
Adds acidity and aroma to the syrup, balancing the sweetness.

The step that matters

Let the mixture boil after adding the gelatine. Gelatine must be fully dissolved in the hot liquid to set evenly. Boiling ensures it dissolves completely, while the syrup should then cool so the gelatine sets into a clear, firm jelly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar):

  1. Pearfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, 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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