Name: Apples, Baked
Ingredients: 6 large sour apples; 1 cup sugar; ½ teaspoon mixed ground spice; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt'); 2 tablespoons grated cracker crumbs; 2 tablespoons milk or water

Why it works: Apple and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,104 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Apples, Baked

Ingredients

6 large sour apples
1 cup sugar
½ teaspoon mixed ground spice
¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')
2 tablespoons grated cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons milk or water

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).
Peel and core the apples.
In a bowl, mix sugar, mixed ground spice, coarse sea salt, grated cracker crumbs, and milk or water.
Fill the core of each apple with the mixture.

Bake and serve

Place the apples in a baking pan and bake until tender.
Serve hot or cold with sweetened cream or whipped cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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 + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,104 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Sour apples: Provide the main body and tart flavor that balances the sugar.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the apples caramelize slightly as they bake.
Cracker crumbs: Absorb moisture and thicken the filling inside each apple core.