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 ↓
To Make an Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the pie
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line the sides of a pie dish with puff pastry.
Arrange a thick layer of apples in the dish.
Sprinkle half of the sugar over the apples.
Add a little grated lemon peel.
Add a squeeze of lemon juice.
Place a few cloves among the apples.
Layer the remaining apples on top.
Sprinkle with the rest of the sugar.
Sweeten to taste.
Add more lemon juice if desired.
Make the syrup
Boil the apple peels and cores in water with a blade of mace until flavorful.
Strain the liquid.
Boil it with a little sugar until syrupy.
Bake and serve
Pour the syrup over the apples before covering with the pastry.
Bake until the crust is golden and the apples are tender.
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 + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Lemon + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Apples
- Provide the bulk of the filling and, once baked, soft tender texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps draw out juices that form the syrup in the filling.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the buttery, flaky crust that browns in the oven.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and brightness that balance the sweetness of the apples and sugar.
The step that matters
Baking until the apples are tender and the crust is golden. Apples must cook through so they soften without collapsing, while the pastry browns from dry oven heat. Pulling the pie too early leaves firm fruit and pale, doughy pastry.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, clove):
- Quincefits better
- Pearfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, clove. 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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