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Apple Sauce, for Goose and Roast Pork

Apple sauce made from apples, butter, and brown sugar, served with goose or roast pork.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,790 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple Sauce, for Goose and Roast Pork

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Pare, core, and slice the apples.

  2. Place them in a stone jar in a saucepan of water or on a hot hearth.

  3. If on a hearth, add a spoonful or two of water to prevent burning.

Finish and serve

  1. When done, mash the apples.

  2. Stir in the butter and brown sugar.

  3. Serve in a sauce-tureen.

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. Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Apples
Break down into the soft body of the sauce once cooked and mashed.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the mashed apples.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and caramel-like depth that balances the tart apples.

The step that matters

Cooking the apples without scorching. Apples in a stone jar on a hot hearth can burn against the surface before they soften. The record's added spoonful or two of water creates steam that keeps the fruit from sticking and scorching while it cooks through.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Gingerfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, butter, 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.

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