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Dessert

Apple Sauce

Apple sauce is a cooked apple mixture sweetened with sugar and flavored with nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pare, core, and slice the apples.

  2. In a well-tinned saucepan, add the apples and 2 tablespoons of cold water or cider. Lay the longest pieces of apple peelings on top to keep in the steam.

Cook and finish

  1. Cook over a clear, slow fire, ensuring the saucepan does not get too close to the heat.

  2. When the apples are soft and sink in the saucepan, remove the peelings.

  3. Beat in a small piece of butter, 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar, and a dust of nutmeg.

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 + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

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

  4. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the main body and flavour of the sauce as they soften and break down with gentle heat.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, glossy mouthfeel to the finished sauce.
Powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and rounds out the natural tartness of the apples.

The step that matters

Cook over a clear, slow fire. Gentle, even heat softens the apples without scorching the bottom of the pan. High heat or a pan too close to the flame can burn the sugars and stick, giving a dark, bitter taste.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Clovefits about as well
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Gingerfits about as well

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

Cake 57Baked 20Brown 15Dried 8Cider 7Spiced 5 See all 252 →

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