Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine the pastry flour and cold butter until crumbly.
Add sugar and mix well.
Gradually add cold water to form a stiff dough.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface using a rolling pin.
Prepare the filling
Cut the apples and place 4 on each plate with half a lemon.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.
Assemble and bake
Place the apple mixture in the pie crust and cover with another layer of dough.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden 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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pastry flour
- Forms the structure of the dough once it is mixed with water.
- Butter
- Cold butter rubbed into flour makes the dough tender and flaky.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the crust brown.
- Tart apples
- Provide the main filling, with tartness that balances the sweetness.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity that brightens the apple flavor.
The step that matters
Adding the cold water to the dough. Adding water gradually and keeping the butter cold prevents the dough from becoming tough. Overworking it develops too much gluten, and warm butter melts into the flour instead of leaving small pieces that create flaky layers.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, sugar, lemon, cinnamon, nutmeg):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, sugar, lemon, cinnamon, nutmeg. 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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