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Dessert

Dutch Apple Pie

A pie with sliced apples, raisins, nutmeg, butter, and milk, topped with marshmallows.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Dutch Apple Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Line a pie pan with the pie crust.

  3. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 tablespoon of flour in the bottom of the crust.

Fill and bake

  1. Fill the crust with sliced apples and add raisins, nutmeg, and bits of butter.

  2. Sprinkle liberally with sugar and pour enough milk to fill the pan.

  3. Bake until the apples are cooked.

  4. When almost done, dot the top with marshmallows and return to the oven to 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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the main filling bulk and tart fruit flavour as they soften during baking.
Flour
Thickens the juices released by the apples and milk, giving the filling body.
Milk
Forms a custard-like liquid that sets around the apples as the pie bakes.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavour and a tender texture to the filling.
Marshmallows
Melt and brown on the surface, adding sweetness and a toasted colour.

The step that matters

Returning the pie to the oven to brown the marshmallows. Marshmallows scorch quickly at oven heat, so they need watching once added. Adding them only when the pie is almost done lets them brown without burning before the custard sets.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, raisin, nutmeg, butter, milk):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, raisin, nutmeg, butter, milk. 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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