Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
Apples Meringues a LA Portuguaise
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 components
Prepare apple marmalade using 12 apples.
Halve, peel, and core another 12 apples.
Grease a deep sauté pan with butter and place the apples inside.
Sprinkle sugar and grated lemon peel over the apples, then bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
Prepare a small quantity of pastry custard and partially bake an ornamented pastry case.
Assemble the dessert
Fill the pastry case with apple marmalade, leaving a well in the center.
Arrange the baked apple halves in a dome shape on top of the marmalade, leaving the center hollow.
Fill the hollow with pastry custard and cover with orange marmalade.
Make and bake the meringue
Whip the egg whites until firm, then mix in the sifted sugar to create meringue.
Spread the meringue over the apple dome, then use a piping bag to create a design.
Sprinkle sifted sugar on top and bake until the meringue is a light fawn color.
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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Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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 + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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 the baked dome, giving body and fruity flavor.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that sets when baked, forming the light meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and meringue and helps the meringue stay stable and brown lightly.
- Orange marmalade
- Adds bright, tangy sweetness and a glossy layer over the custard.
- Pastry-custard
- Adds a rich, creamy layer that contrasts with the soft apples.
The step that matters
Whipping the egg whites until firm. Egg whites must be whipped to stiff peaks, and any trace of fat or yolk will prevent them from foaming fully. Properly whipped whites trap air, which gives the meringue its light, stable structure when baked.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, lemon, orange, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Blackberryfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, lemon, orange, 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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