Why it works: Wine and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,887 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Apple Meringue
Ingredients
Directions
Slice the sponge cake and moisten it with wine.
Heat the strained apples and stir in the beaten egg whites.
Brown the mixture and serve with cream.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
-
Wine + creamtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,887 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Wine + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,918 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
More apple meringue recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.