Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Sliced Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Slice apples very thin and sprinkle with sugar and a little cinnamon.
Add small bits of butter and water, then dredge with flour.
Bake and serve
Cover with the top crust and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.
Alternatively, line a pie pan with crust, fill with sliced apples, and cover with the top crust.
Remove the top crust, add sugar, butter, and seasoning, then replace the crust and serve warm.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 (in the method)
- Provide the main filling, softening as they bake and releasing juice that forms the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps draw out juices from the apples while they cook.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour through the filling.
- Flour
- Dredged over the apples to thicken the juices as the pie bakes.
- Pie crust
- Forms the structure that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Covering and baking the pie. Thin apple slices release juice as they heat, and flour only thickens it if the pie bakes long enough at the stated temperature. Underbaking leaves a runny filling and a pale, soggy 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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