Name: Apples, a LA Portuguaise
Ingredients: 4 apples; orange marmalade; 4 egg whites; 4 ounces sifted sugar; red-currant jelly; apple jelly; greengage jam or apricot jam

Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓

Apples, a LA Portuguaise

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.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Core and slice the apples, then pile them on a layer of orange marmalade in a dome shape, leaving the center hollow.
Fill the hollow with pastry custard.
Cover the entire dome with more orange marmalade.
Whip the egg whites until firm, then mix in the sifted sugar to create meringue.
Spread the meringue over the apple dome, smoothing it out.
Using a paper cornet, pipe a design on the meringue.
Sprinkle sifted sugar on top and bake until the meringue is light-fawn in color.
Before serving, fill the inner part of the dome with alternating layers of red-currant jelly, apple jelly, and greengage or apricot jam.

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.

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.

Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together777 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
Orange + apricottop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together703 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,230 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,918 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
Currant + apricottop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together188 recipes

Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, orange, egg, sugar, apricot):

Vanillafits better
Peachfits better
Pearfits better
Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, orange, egg, sugar, apricot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.