Why it works: Almond and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Apple Hedgehog, or Iced Apples
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Stew the apples
Peel and core the apples without dividing them.
Stew the peeled and cored apples in a saucepan with ½ lb sugar and 1 pint water until tender.
Carefully lift the apples onto a dish.
Core and slice the remaining apples.
Add the sliced apples to the same syrup with the lemon rind.
Boil gently until reduced to a pulp, stirring to prevent burning.
Build the shape
Cover the bottom of a dish with some apple marmalade.
Layer the whole apples, filling the cavities with marmalade.
Continue layering to form an oval shape.
Ice and decorate
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Mix the whipped egg whites with pounded sugar.
Cover the apples smoothly with the icing.
Blanch the almonds.
Cut the blanched almonds into strips.
Stick the almond strips upright at equal distances over the icing to resemble a hedgehog.
Place the dish in a 300°F (150°C) oven for a few minutes 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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Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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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 + almondtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,025 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Cooking apples
- Provide the structure of the shape and, reduced to a pulp, the sweet marmalade filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and syrup and, as pounded sugar, sweetens and stabilises the icing.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they form the light, smooth icing that covers the apples.
- Lemon rind
- Adds a bright citrus aroma and a touch of acidity to the apple marmalade.
The step that matters
Carefully lift the apples onto a dish. Whole apples soften as they stew and can split easily. Lifting them gently keeps them intact, so they hold the oval shape under the icing.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, almond, lemon, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Raisinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, almond, lemon, egg. 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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