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Dessert

Apple Pie

Apple pie made with peeled apples, water, sugar, cinnamon, lemon zest, optional cider, baked in a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Apple Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the syrup

  1. Boil the apple cores with the apples and water until flavorful.

  2. Strain the liquid.

  3. Add ¼ cup sugar and cinnamon to the strained liquid.

  4. Simmer again.

Assemble the pie

  1. Place the apples in a pie dish.

  2. Line the edge with pie crust.

  3. Sprinkle half the remaining sugar and lemon zest over the first layer of apples.

  4. Squeeze lemon juice or add cider if apples are bland.

  5. Layer the rest of the apples on top.

  6. Pour the simmered liquid over the apples.

  7. Cover with pie crust.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

  2. Serve hot with butter if desired.

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. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 of the filling and tender, fruity flavor as they soften.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the apples release juices and caramelize lightly while baking.
Lemon
Adds acidity that brightens the apple flavor and balances the sweetness.
Pie crust
Encloses the filling and provides a crisp, golden, browned structure.

Swap the lemon

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

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

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

More apple pie recipes

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