Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Apple 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
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Cut tart apples into quarters and fill the pie plate heaping full.
Sweeten the apples to taste and add a little water.
Bake
Cover with the top crust.
Bake slowly for about 30 minutes, until the apples are cooked.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Tart apples
- Provide the main filling, softening as they cook and giving the pie its body and tartness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and balances the acidity of the tart apples.
- Pie crust
- Encloses the filling on the bottom and top, holding the apples while they bake.
The step that matters
Bake slowly for about 30 minutes, until the apples are cooked. Apples must cook through before the pie is removed. Pulling it too early leaves firm, underdone fruit, while the low oven temperature helps the apples soften without burning the crust.
“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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