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Apples Preserved in Slices

A method of preserving sliced apples in a sugar syrup with candied orange peel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,230 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Apples Preserved in Slices

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the syrup

  1. Prepare the pippins by slicing them without coring.

  2. Measure an equal weight of loaf sugar and combine it with enough water to dissolve.

  3. Dissolve the sugar, skim it, and bring it to a high boil.

Cook and serve

  1. Add the apple slices to the boiling syrup.

  2. Once the apples are clear, place them in shallow glasses for serving.

  3. Add thin slices of candied orange peel to the syrup and arrange them around the apples.

  4. Cover the apples with the syrup.

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. Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,230 recipes

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

  2. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 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

Pippins (apples)
Provide the fruit that becomes tender and translucent as it cooks in the syrup.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the fruit and, boiled into a syrup, preserves it and gives it a clear, glossy finish.
Candied orange peel
Adds a bright, sweet citrus aroma and flavour to the syrup and apples.

The step that matters

Bring the syrup to a high boil before adding the apples. Sugar must be fully dissolved and the syrup boiling so it becomes concentrated enough to preserve the fruit; adding apples to weak or cool syrup lets them soften unevenly and spoil sooner.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar):

  1. Pearfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Apricotfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar. 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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