Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Pare, core, and cut the apples into quarters.
Arrange the apples closely in a pie dish.
Assemble and bake
Sprinkle the cloves, sugar, grated lemon peel, lemon juice, and nutmeg among the apples.
Add the ale or water.
Cover the pie with puff pastry.
Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, checking to prevent burning.
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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Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,686 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,790 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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, cooking down to soft, tender pieces that hold the pie's shape.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps draw moisture from the apples to form a syrup.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the flaky, golden top crust that encloses the filling.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the apple flavour and helps keep the apples from browning.
The step that matters
Checking to prevent burning. The pastry browns faster than the apples soften, so the top can scorch before the filling is tender. Checking during the long bake and covering the pastry if it darkens too quickly prevents this.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, sugar, lemon, nutmeg):
- Orangefits better
- Limefits better
- Vanillafits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against clove, sugar, lemon, nutmeg. 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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