Why it works: Apple and quince work together. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 506 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Pare, core, and slice the apples.
Line the edge and sides of a pie dish with puff pastry.
Fill the dish with the sliced apples and sprinkle with enough sugar to sweeten.
Cover the pie with more pastry and make a small hole in the center.
Insert a rolled-up slip of writing paper into the hole to keep it open.
Stew the apple parings and cores in a little water, then strain the liquid.
After baking, pour the strained liquid into the pie through a funnel.
If the apples are bland, add grated lemon peel, lemon juice, quince marmalade, or nutmeg.
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 + quincetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together506 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Quince + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together118 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-terpineol (lilac, floral).
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Lemon + quincetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together336 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,790 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, quince, nutmeg):
- Pearfits better
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, quince, nutmeg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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