Why it works: Apple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,551 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a steady oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the apples
Prepare the apples as for a pudding.
Pile the apples in a dish, distributing the sugar and flavoring evenly.
Ensure no sugar is directly under the top crust.
If the apples are dry, add a little lemon juice.
Assemble and bake
Line the dish with pie crust, cover with another crust, and crimp the edges.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until firm, about 20 minutes.
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 + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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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 + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Apples
- Provide the bulk and tender fruit that softens and fills the pie.
- Pie crust
- Forms the structure that encloses the apples and browns in the oven.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps draw moisture from the apples into the filling.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity and brightness that balances the sweetness of the apples and sugar.
The step that matters
Keep sugar away from the top crust. Sugar placed directly under the top crust can dissolve and cause that crust to become soggy or unevenly browned, so it should be spread through the apples instead.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar):
- Pearfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Apricotfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar. 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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