Why it works: Sherry and apple work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 395 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Apple Snow
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Lay the sponge cakes at the bottom of a dish and sprinkle over the wine.
Separate the yolks of the eggs from the whites and set the whites aside.
Make the custard
Whip the yolks with ½ oz of sugar, then add boiling milk.
Return the mixture to a saucepan, place it in another pan with water, and boil gently while stirring until the custard slightly coats the spoon.
When cool, pour the custard over the sponge cake.
Top and garnish
Meanwhile, roast the apples, then remove the cores and skin, and mash with a fork.
Whip the egg whites until very stiff, gradually adding the remaining sugar while whipping.
Mix the egg whites with the apple pulp and pile it on top of the custard.
Garnish with candied fruits, angelica, or pistachios to taste.
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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Sherry + appletop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together395 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Milk + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Sherry + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
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Sugar + appletop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and apple 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard, and whipped whites give the topping its light, airy structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, which sets softly as it thickens with gentle heat.
- Apples
- Provide moisture, body and fruity flavor to the snow topping once roasted and mashed.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps stabilize the whipped egg whites so they hold their stiff peaks.
- Sponge cake
- Forms a soft base that soaks up the wine and custard.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and flavor to the sponge layer.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard gently. Egg yolks thicken at gentle heat but scramble if overheated. Stirring over water and stopping when it coats the spoon keeps the custard smooth.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sherry, sugar, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplefits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sherry, sugar, milk, egg. 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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