Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Apple Dumplings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare the apples without coring them to retain flavor from the pips.
Roll out the paste moderately thin.
Wrap each apple separately in the paste with 2 cloves in each.
Tie each wrapped apple in a piece of cloth.
Cook and serve
Boil the wrapped apples in water for about 1 hour.
Serve with melted butter or a slice of butter and sugar.
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 + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Clove + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,045 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the fruit filling, which softens and turns tender as it boils.
- Good paste
- Forms a sealed wrapper that holds each apple together while it cooks.
- Cloves
- Add warm, aromatic spice that flavors the apple as it cooks.
The step that matters
Tie each wrapped apple in cloth. The tie should be snug so the paste stays sealed. A loose wrap lets boiling water soak into the pastry, making it soggy and likely to fall apart.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Clovethe original
- Sagefits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, butter. 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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