Why it works: Apple and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,706 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Apple Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Pare and cut the apples, removing all the cores.
Place them in a saucepan with a little water and stew until soft.
If too moist, pour away excess water.
Add a small piece of butter and heat until ready to serve.
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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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Good baking apples
- Soften into a pulp as they stew, forming the body of the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a rounder, smoother flavor and mouthfeel.
The step that matters
If too moist, pour away excess water.. Apples release juice as they cook. Leaving too much liquid dilutes the flavor and makes the sauce thin and watery, so drain off the surplus once the apples are soft.
“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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