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Dessert

Apple and Rice Meringue

A dessert of cooked apples, rice, and meringue topped with preserved cherries and angelica.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 and Rice Meringue

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the apples

  1. Open the tin of American apples, remove 6 apples, and place them in a saucepan with ½ cup of their own liquid.

  2. If not enough liquid, add water to make up the quantity, then add ½ lb. castor sugar and 4 cloves.

  3. Boil gently until the apples are soft.

  4. Remove them and arrange them in the center of a glass dish.

  5. Boil the syrup rapidly without a lid until reduced to 3 tablespoons.

  6. Strain it over the apples.

Make the rice

  1. Open the tin of Swiss milk and dissolve 2 tablespoons in 1 pint of water.

  2. In a saucepan, combine ½ lb. of rice with the milk and a few drops of essence of lemon.

  3. When the rice has absorbed all the milk, stir in 1 packet of egg powder and set aside to cool.

Assemble and bake

  1. Soak 1 packet of albumen in 3 teaspoons of water for ½ hour.

  2. Whisk it to a very stiff froth.

  3. Arrange the rice around the apples like a wall.

  4. Spread the albumen smoothly over the top using a knife.

  5. Sift a little castor sugar over it.

  6. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until slightly brown.

  7. Decorate with preserved cherries and angelica.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Rice + lemontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,366 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

American apples
Provide the fruit base, which softens and sweetens when gently simmered in syrup.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the apples and syrup and helps the top brown lightly in the oven.
Rice
Forms the cooked rice wall that holds the apples and gives the dish its body.
Swiss milk
Adds richness and sweetness as the rice absorbs it during cooking.
Egg powder
Stirred into the cooked rice to bind it and add structure.
Albumen
Whisked to a stiff froth, it forms the meringue that sets and browns on top.

The step that matters

Whisking the albumen to a very stiff froth. Egg white proteins trap air when whisked into a stiff foam, and that foam sets and holds its shape in the oven. If under-whisked or greasy, it will not stand up or brown well.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, rice, milk, egg, lemon):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Gingerfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, rice, milk, egg, lemon. 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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