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 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 apple base
In a saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.
Add the chopped apples, sugar, lemon rind, and lemon juice.
Simmer until the apples are tender.
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.
Stir in the egg yolks and pour into a small pie dish.
Bake and serve
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 8 minutes.
Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Spread the whipped egg whites over the apple mixture.
Sprinkle with additional sugar and bake for 3 minutes to set the meringue.
Serve warm.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the main body and flavour of the filling once cooked and sieved.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks enrich the apple base, while whipped whites form the meringue topping.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, fat-based mouthfeel to the apple mixture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the meringue set and brown lightly.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and aroma that balance the sweetness of the apples and sugar.
The step that matters
Whipping the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Egg whites must be whipped to stiff peaks and spread over the filling so air bubbles hold their shape. Underwhipped or greasy whites will not hold, and the meringue may weep or fail to set properly in the short bake.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, butter, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, sugar, butter, 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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