Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Fruit Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Make a pie crust.
Assemble
Place a layer of crust in the bottom of a 2-quart tin basin.
Add a 2-inch thick layer of chopped sour apples.
Layer chopped raisins on top.
Sprinkle sugar, butter pieces, and spices over the raisins.
Repeat the apple and raisin layers until the dish is full.
Finish with a layer of crust on top.
Bake and serve
Bake slowly for 2 hours.
Turn the pie bottom side up onto a plate.
Sprinkle fine sugar before serving.
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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,075 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Raisin + nutmegtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,377 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sour apples
- Provide the bulk of the filling and tart flavor that balances the sugar.
- Raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps draw out juices as the fruit cooks.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the pie crust that holds the filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that enhances flavor and browning of the crust.
The step that matters
Bake slowly for 2 hours. A low oven lets the apples soften fully and the raisins plump without the crust burning before the filling is tender. Rushing with high heat can leave the apples firm and the crust overbrowned.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, raisin, sugar, butter, clove, nutmeg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, raisin, sugar, butter, clove, nutmeg. 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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