Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Apple Dumplings
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dough
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mix and sift the flour, salt, and baking powder.
Rub in the lard with your fingertips until combined.
Gradually add cold water, mixing with a knife to form a soft dough.
Toss the dough on a floured board and roll it to 1 inch thick.
Cut out circles using a large biscuit cutter.
Shape the dumplings
Place a peeled and cored snow apple in the center of each circle.
Enclose the apples by pressing the edges of the dough together and shape into balls.
Place the dumplings in a buttered baking pan, 2 inches apart.
Bake and serve
Sift sugar around the dumplings and pour cold water over them.
Bake for 20 minutes, basting three times with the liquid in the pan.
Serve with Hard, Apricot, or Creamy Sauce.
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.
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Sugar + appletop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Flour + appletop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,140 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar and apple 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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the dough that encloses the apples.
- Lard
- Rubbed into the flour to add tenderness and flakiness to the dough.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough to help it rise and lighten in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dumplings and helps the surface brown as it cooks.
- Snow apples
- Soften during baking and provide the fruit filling inside each dumpling.
The step that matters
Enclose the apples by pressing the edges of the dough together. If the seams are not sealed well, syrup and juices can leak out during baking, leaving the dumplings dry and the dough underbaked around the fruit.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, 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.
More apple dumplings recipes
You might also like
Apple Pudding256 recipes
Apple Cake80 recipes
Apple Meringue75 recipes
Dried Apple Cake51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.