Why it works: Apple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,551 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Apple Charlotte
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the dish
Melt the butter and grease a pie dish with some of it, then coat with some breadcrumbs.
Mix the lemon rind and breadcrumbs together.
Peel, core, and chop the apples coarsely, then mix them with the sugar.
Layer and bake
Place a layer of breadcrumbs in the bottom of the pie dish, followed by a layer of apples and a little liquid butter.
Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used, ensuring plenty of butter on the top layer.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about an hour.
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 + 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).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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
- Apples
- Provide the bulk of the filling and tart flavor that cooks down soft.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form the layers that soak up butter and hold the apples together while baking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps the top layer brown in the oven.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and helps them soften and caramelize slightly as they bake.
The step that matters
Ensuring plenty of butter on the top layer. Butter on the top layer carries heat into the breadcrumbs and promotes even browning, while preventing the crumbs from drying out and turning hard during the long bake.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, butter):
- Pearfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, butter. 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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