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 ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Preserve the apples
Select and halve the apples, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.
In a pot, combine the sugar and water, and let the sugar dissolve before heating.
Reserve 1 cup of water to add at the first boil, then skim the syrup.
At the second boil, add the rose water and remove from heat to cool.
In a preserving kettle, layer the apples and pour enough syrup to cover them.
Add a cinnamon stick and boil until the apples are tender but not breaking.
Carefully remove the apples and set them on a flat dish with some syrup.
Repeat until all apples are preserved, saving some syrup.
Assemble and bake
Prepare a pie crust and line the bottom of the pie plate with a thin layer.
Fill the pie with the preserved apples, creating a mound.
Cover with another layer of pie crust, decorating the edges.
After baking, check the pie; if it’s dry, add some reserved syrup through a small opening.
Bake until the pie is a light golden color.
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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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Rose + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together892 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + rosetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together235 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and cinnamon 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
- Provide the bulk of the filling, becoming tender and holding their shape when poached in syrup.
- Loaf sugar
- Makes the syrup that sweetens the apples and helps preserve their texture and shape.
- Rose water
- Adds a floral aroma to the syrup that carries into the apples.
- Pie paste
- Forms the crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
- Egg white
- Can brush on pastry to help it brown and seal, adding gloss to the crust.
The step that matters
Poach the apples until tender but not breaking. Apples cooked too long lose their shape and turn to mush, while undercooked apples stay firm and raw-tasting. Heating gently in syrup softens the cell walls evenly so slices hold together.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, rose, egg, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, rose, egg, cinnamon. 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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