Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Apple Pie
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. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare the crust
Do not grease the pie plate.
Line the plate with plain pastry.
Fill the pie
Core, peel, and quarter the apples.
Layer the apple quarters on the pastry, sprinkling with sugar, cinnamon, and grated lemon rind.
Repeat layering until the apples are piled high.
Top and bake
Roll out the top crust thinly, fold in half, and cut small gashes in the center.
Wet the rim of the lower crust and place the top crust on, sealing the edges.
Add a narrow strip of pastry around the edge.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 30 to 40 minutes.
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Cooking apples
- Provide the bulk of the filling, softening as they bake to form the pie's body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps draw out juices that form the filling's syrup.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm aroma that complements the apples.
- Plain pastry
- Forms the bottom and top crusts that enclose the filling and brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Sealing the top crust to the lower crust. Wetting the rim and pressing the edges together keeps juices from leaking out during baking. The gashes in the top crust let steam escape so the filling does not burst the crust.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Pearfits better
- Quincefits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, cinnamon. 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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