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 Snow
Ingredients
Directions
Make the apple pulp
Peel, core, and slice the apples in a pan with a little water and the grated rind of the lemon.
Cover and cook until the apples form a very stiff pulp, then let cool.
Assemble and serve
Slice the sponge cakes in a deep dish and pour the custard over them.
Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then add the apple pulp and sugar, continuing to whisk until firm.
Add the strained juice of the lemon and pile the mixture on top of the sponge cakes.
Keep in a very cool place 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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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Cook down into a stiff pulp that gives the snow its body and flavour.
- Egg whites
- Whisked to stiff foam, they lighten the mixture and give it a airy, fluffy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and helps stabilise the whisked egg white foam.
- Sponge cakes
- Form a soft, absorbent base that soaks up the custard beneath the topping.
- Custard
- Adds moisture and richness to the sponge base beneath the apple snow.
The step that matters
Whisking the egg whites and apple pulp. Egg whites must be whisked until stiff before the cooled apple pulp and sugar are folded in. Over-whisking can make foam grainy and collapse, while under-whisking leaves the mixture loose and unable to hold its shape.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, lemon):
- Orangefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Limefits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, lemon. 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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