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Dessert

Apple Fool

A dessert of stewed apples and dates mixed with milk and cream, served cold with sponge cake fingers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Apple Fool

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare, core, and cut the apples.

  2. Stone the dates.

Make the fool

  1. In a pot, gently stew the apples and dates with the water and cloves until tender.

  2. Remove the cloves and rub the fruit through a sieve.

  3. Gradually mix in the boiling milk, then the cream.

Serve

  1. Serve cold with sponge cake fingers.

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. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

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

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

  4. Apple + datestop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together119 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Dates + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together150 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples
Break down into a soft pulp that forms the body of the fool.
Dates
Add natural sweetness and thicken the fruit purée as they soften.
Milk
Dilutes the fruit purée and gives it a smooth, creamy texture.
Cream
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel from its fat.
Cloves
Provide a warm, spiced aroma to the stewed fruit.

The step that matters

Sieve the fruit while it is fully tender. Apples and dates must be soft all the way through before sieving, because firm pieces will not pass through the mesh and leave lumps in the purée.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, dates, milk, cream, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, dates, milk, cream, 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.

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