Name: Westphalian Apple Tart
Ingredients: 15 apples, peeled and chopped; 4 tablespoons butter (for frying); 4 tablespoons apricot jam; 1 pound butter, softened; 4 egg yolks; 1 pound bread crumbs; 1 tablespoon vanilla extract; 6 ounces powdered sugar; 1 pie crust

Why it works: Apricot and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 608 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Westphalian Apple Tart

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

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 filling

Fry the chopped apples in butter until soft.
Add apricot jam and beat until smooth.

Make the topping

Cream the softened butter.
Add egg yolks, bread crumbs, vanilla, and powdered sugar. Mix well.

Assemble and bake

Spread the mixture over the apples in the pie crust.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.

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.

Apricot + vanillatop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together608 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together777 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Apple + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,501 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Apples: Soften during frying and provide the main fruit flavor and moisture under the topping.
Egg yolks: Add richness and help bind the topping so it sets in the oven.
Bread crumbs: Add body to the topping and absorb moisture from the butter and eggs.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and flavor and helps create a tender texture.
Apricot jam: Adds sweetness, fruity flavor, and moisture to the apple layer.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the topping and dissolves easily into the creamed butter.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, apricot, egg, bread, vanilla, sugar):

Figfits better
Peachfits better
Pearfits about as well
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, apricot, egg, bread, vanilla, 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.