Name: Apple Sauce
Ingredients: 4 medium sweet apples; 1 cup sweet or unfermented cider; ¼ cup sugar (optional); 1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Apple Sauce

Ingredients

4 medium sweet apples
1 cup sweet or unfermented cider
¼ cup sugar (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

Directions

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

Peel, core, and slice the apples.

Cook and finish

In a pot, combine the apples and cider.
Cook over medium heat until the apples are soft, about 15-20 minutes.
Mash the apples to your desired consistency.
Stir in sugar and cinnamon if using, and cook for an additional 5 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.

Apple + cidertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,238 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Cider + cinnamontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,497 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Apples: Provide the bulk of the sauce, softening into pulp as they cook and mash.
Cider: Adds moisture and liquid so the apples can soften evenly without scorching.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the apples.
Cinnamon: Adds warm aroma and spice flavour to the sauce.

“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.