Why it works: Apple and quince work together. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 506 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Stew the apples in minimal water until just soft.
Strain the apples, then sweeten and flavor to taste.
Stew one quince with the apples for a sauce.
Assemble and bake
In a deep pie plate, layer raw apple slices, sugar, and bits of butter.
Cover the layers with pastry, adding an under crust if desired.
Fill a deep plate with sliced apples, add a couple of spoonfuls of water, and cover.
Bake until done.
Serve
Turn out onto another plate with the crust down and sauce up.
Serve warm with sugar and cream.
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 + quincetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together506 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Quince + buttertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together218 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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
- Apples
- Provide the bulk of the filling, softening into a tender, fragrant body when stewed or baked.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps draw out juices and promote gentle browning.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the filling, carrying flavor and aiding a silky texture.
- Pastry
- Forms the crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
- Quince
- Adds a fragrant, tart flavor and natural setting body to the apple sauce.
The step that matters
Bake until done. Apples release juice as they heat, so the pastry must be fully baked and the filling tender; underbaked crust stays soggy while the fruit can remain firm or watery.
Swap the quince
The recipe marks quince as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, butter):
- Pearfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Quincethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, butter. 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.
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