Why it works: Apple and cinnamon 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 ↓
Apples Stuffed with Nuts
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
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Core the apples.
Fill and bake
In a bowl, mix the chopped walnuts with cinnamon and sugar.
Stuff the mixture into the cored apples.
Place the apples in a baking dish and bake until tender.
Serve
Serve warm with whipped cream.
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Walnut + cinnamontop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,147 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Apple + walnuttop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,051 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Apples
- Hold the filling and soften into tender flesh as they bake.
- Walnuts
- Add crunch and a nutty flavor that contrasts with the soft apple.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the filling caramelize slightly as it bakes.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, cinnamon, sugar, cream):
- Almondfits better
- Chestnutfits better
- Hazelnutfits better
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, cinnamon, sugar, cream. 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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