Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Fruit Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the crust
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make a pie crust by mixing flour and butter until crumbly, then add cold water to form a dough.
Layer the pie
Roll out the dough and place a layer in the bottom of a 2-quart tin basin.
Add a 2-inch layer of chopped sour apples on top of the crust.
Layer chopped raisins over the apples, then sprinkle with sugar, pieces of butter, and spices.
Repeat layering with crust and fruit until the basin is full.
Cover with a final layer of crust on top.
Bake and serve
Bake for 2 hours.
Once done, turn the pie bottom side up onto a plate and sprinkle with fine sugar before serving.
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.
-
Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
-
Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the dough when combined with water and butter.
- Unsalted butter
- Keeps the crust tender and crumbly as it melts into the dough and fruit layers.
- Sour apples
- Supply the main fruit filling and tart flavor that balances the sugar.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture to the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps draw out juices from the fruit.
The step that matters
Layering the filling and crust. Because the basin is filled in several layers, the crust must be sealed and the layers evenly distributed so the fruit cooks through and juices do not leak out during the long bake.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, raisin, sugar, clove, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, raisin, sugar, clove, nutmeg. 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.
You might also like
Apple Pudding256 recipes
Apple Cake80 recipes
Apple Meringue75 recipes
Clove Cake53 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.