Why it works: Cider and apple 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 ↓
Apple Buttee
Ingredients
Directions
Reduce the cider
Boil 9 gallons of cider down to 3 gallons.
Cook the apples
Add 3 gallons of pared and quartered apples to the boiling cider.
Boil rapidly for about 2 hours, preventing the apples from sinking.
Once the apples begin to sink, stir continuously to prevent scorching.
Continue stirring until the mixture reduces to a thick, smooth pulp, about 30 minutes.
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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Cider + appletop 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
- Cider
- Reduces to a concentrated base that gives the butter its sweet, tangy flavour.
- Apples
- Break down into pulp, providing the body, thickness and fruit flavour of the butter.
The step that matters
Stirring once the apples begin to sink. Sugars in the thickening pulp scorch easily on the bottom of the pan, and constant stirring prevents burnt flavour and dark specks as the mixture concentrates.
“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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