Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Apple Dumplings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Preheat a pot of water to boil.
Pare the apples.
Scoop out the core of the apples.
Place a piece of clove inside each apple.
Place a little grated lemon peel inside each apple.
Enclose each apple in puff pastry.
Boil the dumplings
Boil the dumplings in nets or pieces of linen for 1 hour.
Finish and serve
Before serving, cut a small piece from the top of each dumpling.
Add 1 teaspoon of sugar inside each apple.
Add a small piece of fresh butter inside each apple.
Replace the pastry top.
Sprinkle with pounded loaf sugar.
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 + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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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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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Baking apples
- Provide the main filling that softens into a tender, moist centre while the pastry cooks.
- Puff pastry
- Encloses each apple, forming a flaky, layered wrapper that holds in the filling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the apple filling and balances its tartness.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat and richness, moistening the apple as it melts inside the pastry.
- Grated lemon peel
- Adds bright citrus aroma that lifts the flavour of the apples.
- Clove
- Adds warm, spiced aroma to the apple filling.
The step that matters
Enclose each apple in puff pastry. The pastry must be sealed fully around each apple so the filling and butter stay inside as the dumpling boils. A gap lets juices escape and leaves the apple dry and the pastry soggy.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, lemon, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Gingerfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, lemon, 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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