Why it works: Lemon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Apple Hedgehog, or Iced Apples
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the apples
Peel and core 12 apples without dividing them, then stew in a tin-lined saucepan with ½ lb sugar and 1 pint water until tender.
Carefully lift the apples onto a dish.
Core and slice the remaining apples, then add them to the same syrup with the lemon peel and boil gently until reduced to a pulp, stirring to prevent burning.
Assemble and decorate
Cover the bottom of a dish with some of the apple marmalade, then layer the whole apples on top, filling the cavities with more marmalade.
Repeat layering until all ingredients are used, forming an oval shape.
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks, mix with pounded sugar, and cover the apples smoothly with the icing.
Blanch and cut almonds into strips, then stick them upright at equal distances over the icing to resemble a hedgehog's spines.
Bake and serve
Place the dish in a 300°F (150°C) oven for a few minutes before serving.
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 + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 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 + almondtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,025 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Cooking apples
- Provide the bulk of the dish and, when cooked down, the soft marmalade filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the syrup and apple marmalade and helps it thicken as it reduces.
- Eggs
- Whites whipped to stiff peaks form the smooth icing that covers the apples.
- Sweet almonds
- Cut into strips, they form the spines that give the dish its hedgehog look.
The step that matters
Reducing the apple marmalade. Boiling gently and stirring prevents the sugary syrup from scorching on the pan base, which would give a burnt taste and dark colour. Cooking until a pulp forms concentrates the flavour and thickens the filling.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, egg, almond):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Raisinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, egg, almond. 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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