Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Cider Apple Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the cider until it is reduced to about one-fourth of its original volume.
In a pot, combine the quartered sweet apples, the boiled sour cider, and water.
Cover the pot with a plate and cook on the stove for half a day.
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 + cidertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,238 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet apples
- Break down into soft pulp that thickens the sauce and supplies natural sweetness.
- Sour cider
- Adds acidity and concentrated apple flavor, balancing the sweetness of the apples.
The step that matters
Reducing the cider before combining. Boiling the cider concentrates its sugars and acids, so it gives a stronger flavor once it is mixed with the apples and water. Reducing it fully first keeps the final sauce from tasting thin or watery.
“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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