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Dessert

Stuffed Apples

A baked apple dish filled with jam and topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and pineapple match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 911 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Stuffed Apples

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and bake the apples

  1. Wash and core the apples, then place them in a granite baking dish.

  2. Fill the centers of the apples with jam.

  3. Add a little water to the pan.

  4. Bake the apples, basting several times, until done.

Make the meringue and finish

  1. In a bowl, make a meringue by beating the egg white and sugar until stiff, adding a few drops of vanilla or lemon extract.

  2. Heap a small spoonful of meringue on top of each apple.

  3. Return the apples to the oven until the meringue is golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Vanilla + pineappletop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together911 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Apple + pineappletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together530 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Apple + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,501 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Vanilla + nutstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together638 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Hold their shape as they bake and soften into a tender, tangy filling.
Jam
Fills the centers with sweetness and moisture that bakes into the apples.
Egg white
Whipped with sugar, it forms the stiff meringue that sets and browns on top.
Sugar
Sweetens the meringue and helps it hold stiff peaks and brown when baked.

The step that matters

Return the apples to the oven until the meringue is golden brown. Meringue can over-brown or weep if overbaked, while underbaking leaves it soft and raw. Watch the color closely so the top sets and browns without the sugar scorching.

Swap the apple

The recipe marks apple as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, vanilla, pineapple, nuts):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Bananafits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, vanilla, pineapple, nuts. 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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