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Dessert

Apple Meringue

A baked apple filling topped with whipped egg whites and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Apple Meringue

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

  1. Melt the butter over low heat in a saucepan.

  2. Add the chopped apples, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

  3. Simmer until the apples are tender.

  4. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.

  5. Stir in the egg yolks.

  6. Pour the mixture into a small pie dish.

Top and bake

  1. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 8 minutes.

  2. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  3. Spread the whipped egg whites over the baked apple mixture.

  4. Sprinkle with additional sugar.

  5. Bake for 3 minutes to set the meringue.

  6. Serve warm.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 bulk and tender body of the pie filling.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the meringue brown lightly when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that gives the filling a smooth mouthfeel.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the filling; whites whip into the meringue topping.
Lemon
Adds acidity and aroma that balance the sweetness of the apples.

The step that matters

Whipping the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Egg whites must be whipped to stiff peaks with no yolk or grease present, since fat prevents the foam from holding air. A stable foam gives a meringue that stays puffed and does not weep or collapse in the oven.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, sugar, butter, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Orangefits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. 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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