Why it works: Apple and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,230 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Floating Island
Ingredients
Directions
Scald the apple until just ripe.
Remove the skin and pass the apple through a sieve.
Beat the egg whites with sugar and orange juice until frothy.
Mix in the sieved apple until well combined.
Serve the mixture on raspberry cream.
Color the froth with jelly 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.
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 + orangetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Orange + raspberrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together521 recipes
Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + raspberrytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together282 recipes
Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).
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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 + orangetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that gives the dish its light, airy structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the dish and helps stabilize the beaten egg white foam.
- Apple
- Adds moisture and mild fruit flavor to the mixture.
- Orange juice
- Adds acidity and a bright citrus aroma to the froth.
The step that matters
Mixing in the sieved apple. Overmixing a beaten egg white foam knocks out the air trapped in it, so the mixture turns dense and loses its lift. Stir the apple in gently until just combined.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, egg, sugar, raspberry):
- Vanillafits better
- Peachfits better
- Pearfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, egg, sugar, raspberry. 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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