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Dessert

Apple Meringue

A baked apple dessert topped with custard and meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Apple Meringue

Why it works: Apple and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,104 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Apple Meringue

Oven, in the book's wordsA cool oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a cool oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Bake the apples

  1. Core, pare, and bake the apples at 350°F (175°C) until tender but not broken, adding a little sugar and grated lemon peel in the center of each apple.

  2. Beat the egg yolks, then add 3 tablespoons of sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt, and 2 cups scalded milk.

  3. Pour this mixture over the apples.

  4. Bake until the custard is firm.

Top with meringue

  1. Remove the apples from the oven.

  2. Beat the egg whites until stiff, gradually add 3 tablespoons of powdered sugar, then add a few drops of lemon juice.

  3. Pile the meringue on top of the apples.

  4. Place in a cool oven 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Apples
Hold their shape as the base, becoming tender and sweet while baking.
Egg yolks
Thicken the milk mixture into a set custard as they cook.
Milk
Forms the liquid body of the custard that sets around the apples.
Egg whites
Whip into a foam that forms the meringue topping.
Powdered sugar
Dissolves into the whipped whites to make the meringue stable and glossy.

The step that matters

Baking the custard until firm. Egg proteins set with heat, so the custard needs to be cooked enough to firm but not so long it curdles or turns rubbery.

Swap the apple

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, egg, 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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