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 Water
Ingredients
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.
Bake the apples
Bake the apples at 350°F (175°C) until tender.
Sprinkle sugar over the apples.
Return the apples to the oven until the sugar is slightly brown.
Make the water
Place the apples in a bowl.
Mash the apples with a spoon.
Pour boiling water over the mashed apples.
Cover the mixture and let it stand for 1 hour.
Strain the mixture.
Cool 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 flavour and the juice that the boiling water draws out.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and browns slightly in the oven, deepening the flavour.
The step that matters
Browning the sugar. Sugar on the apples goes from slightly brown to burnt quickly. Stop when it just colours, because scorched sugar adds a bitter taste that carries into the water.
“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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