Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Apple and Rice Meringue
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the apples
Peel, core, and cut the apples into pieces.
Place the apples in a saucepan with ½ cup water, 4 oz sugar, 3 cloves, and a little cinnamon.
Boil gently until the apples are soft.
Remove the apples from the saucepan.
Boil the syrup until reduced to 3 tablespoons.
Strain the syrup over the apples.
Make the rice
Boil ½ lb rice in water, then drain.
Add 1 pint milk, 4 oz sugar, and the thin rind of the lemon to the rice.
Cook until the rice absorbs all the milk.
Let the rice cool.
Remove the lemon rind from the rice.
Mix in the yolks of the eggs one at a time into the rice.
Assemble and bake
Whip the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff.
Form a shallow wall of rice in a serving dish.
Place the apples in the center of the rice wall.
Cover the apples with the whipped egg whites mixed with 1 tablespoon powdered sugar.
Spread the egg whites evenly over the surface.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 15 minutes until browned.
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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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Cinnamon + appletop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Rice + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,137 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Clove + appletop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Forms the creamy base that holds the shape of the dessert once cooked and cooled.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and thicken the rice; whipped whites add airy structure to the topping.
- Milk
- Cooks into the rice, providing moisture and a soft, creamy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the rice and apples and helps the meringue brown in the oven.
- Apples
- Provide the fruit centre, softened and sweetened so they hold their shape.
The step that matters
Whipping the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must be beaten to a stable foam that holds air; under-whipped or greasy whites will collapse and make the topping dense rather than light when baked.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, clove, cinnamon, egg, sugar, milk, apple):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pearfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, clove, cinnamon, egg, sugar, milk, apple. 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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