Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Apple Frost with Cream
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the apples
Peel and core the apples carefully without breaking them.
In a saucepan, combine loaf sugar, ½ cup water, lemon juice, cloves, and cinnamon. Heat until it reduces to a syrup, skimming as needed.
Arrange the apples in a sauté pan, pour the syrup around them, cover with buttered paper, and bake gently until tender.
Make the meringue and bake
Transfer the apples to a buttered baking sheet, cover with stiffly whisked egg whites using a piping bag, and sprinkle with caster sugar.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven until the meringue hardens and lightly colors, then let cool completely.
Serve
When ready to serve, whip the cream until stiff, stir in 2 teaspoons of caster sugar, and place a dollop in the center of each apple.
Serve each apple on a bed of cream, with the remaining cream on the side.
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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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Lemon + angelicatop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together189 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Cinnamon + angelicatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together80 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Clove + angelicatop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together84 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sour cooking apples
- Their tartness and firm flesh hold their shape through gentle poaching and baking.
- Egg whites
- Whisked into a stiff foam, they form the meringue that sets and lightly browns in the oven.
- Loaf sugar
- Forms the syrup that sweetens and gently flavors the apples as they cook.
- Cream
- Whipped stiff, it adds a cool, rich contrast to the warm, tart apples.
The step that matters
Baking the meringue at low heat. Stiffly whisked egg white foam can weep or brown unevenly if baked too hot. A gentle 300°F oven dries and sets the meringue slowly, keeping it crisp and lightly colored rather than scorched.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, egg, lemon, cinnamon, clove, angelica):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Raisinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, egg, lemon, cinnamon, clove, angelica. 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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