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Dessert

Stewed Pippins

A dessert of stewed apples served with a cream sauce and sifted sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Stewed Pippins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the apples as directed in the previous recipe and let them cool.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, combine the syrup with the egg yolks and cream, then strain.

  2. Heat the mixture over low heat, whisking until it thickens, then let it cool.

Fry and serve

  1. Dip the cooled apples in the fritter batter and fry in boiling lard until lightly colored.

  2. Drain the fried apples and serve them with the cream underneath and sifted sugar on top.

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

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

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

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

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  4. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cream + appletop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,089 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

Egg yolks
Thicken the cream mixture as they set over gentle heat, giving a smooth custard.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, forming the smooth base the apples are served on.
Batter
Forms a crisp, golden coating around the apples when fried.
Sifted sugar
Adds sweetness and a light finishing layer on top of the fried apples.

The step that matters

Heat the custard over low heat while whisking. Egg yolks set when heated, so low heat and constant whisking keep the mixture smooth and prevent it from curdling or turning grainy.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Strawberryfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, 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.

More stewed apples recipes

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