Why it works: Apple and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,706 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Apple Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel, core, and cut the apples into thick pieces.
Cook and finish
Stew the apples with a little water until mashed.
Beat the mixture well and add a lump of butter.
If desired, rub through a fine sieve and reheat.
Serve hot with roast duck, pork, or goose.
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 + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Break down into soft pulp that forms the body of the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel to the mashed apples.
The step that matters
Stew the apples with a little water until mashed. Too little water can scorch the fruit on the bottom of the pan, while cooking too briefly leaves lumps. Apples must soften fully so their pectin and cell walls break down into a smooth purée.
“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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