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Dessert

Apples a LA Cremone

Apples a la Cremone is apples served with a clear jelly syrup made from isinglass, water, sugar, lemon peel, and cider.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and cider are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,238 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Apples a LA Cremone

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Boil isinglass in water until it forms a jelly.

  2. Combine the jelly with strained apple water and add sugar and lemon peel.

  3. Boil the mixture and then pour it into a dish, removing the peel.

Prepare the apples

  1. Choose clear apples, pare, and cut them into brick-shaped pieces.

  2. Strew apples with sugar and lemon peel, then cover in a bowl overnight.

Cook and serve

  1. The next day, place apples in a small pan with sugar and cider.

  2. Simmer gently, removing apples as they become clear.

  3. Once cooled, arrange apples on a small oval dish and pour syrup in the middle.

  4. Serve with cream.

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 + cidertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,238 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Isinglass
Sets the strained apple liquid into a clear, wobbly jelly as it cools.
Apples
Provide the bulk of the dish and hold their shape when cooked gently in syrup.
Sugar
Sweetens the dish and thickens the syrup, helping it keep its body.
Lemon peel
Adds a bright, aromatic citrus flavour to the syrup and apples.
Strong cider
Adds acidity and a fermented fruit flavour that cuts the sweetness.

The step that matters

Simmer gently and remove apples as they turn clear. Boiling hard breaks the apple pieces apart, while a gentle simmer cooks them evenly. Lifting each piece out as it turns translucent stops it from overcooking and going mushy.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, cider, cream):

  1. Pearfits better
  2. Strawberryfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, cider, cream. 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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