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 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
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Pare, core, and slice the apples into a pan.
Add sugar, water, and cloves or lemon peel to the apples.
Stew the mixture slowly with the lid on until soft.
Mash the apples through a colander.
Assemble and bake
Line a pie tin with puff pastry.
Fill the pastry with the apple mixture.
Add a basting spoonful of water and a piece of butter.
Cover with a thin sheet of puff pastry, brushed with a mixture of egg yolk and water.
Bake until golden brown.
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 + walnuttop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,592 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Lemon + walnuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,149 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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 and, once stewed and mashed, its soft, sweet-tart body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the apples soften and form a thick, spreadable filling.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the flaky, layered crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
- Egg yolk
- Brushed on top, it promotes browning and a glossy golden finish on the crust.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the filling, contributing flavour and moisture.
The step that matters
Stew the apples slowly with the lid on until soft. Gentle covered cooking softens the apples evenly and traps steam, so they break down into a smooth filling rather than scorching or staying firm. Cooking the filling until soft before baking also helps prevent a watery pie.
Swap the clove
The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, lemon, egg, butter, walnut):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, lemon, egg, butter, walnut. 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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