Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Apple Dumplings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel the apples but do not core them.
Roll out the pastry dough moderately thin.
Wrap each apple separately in the pastry with two cloves inside.
Tie each wrapped apple in a piece of cloth.
Cook and serve
Boil the wrapped apples in water for about 1 hour.
Serve with melted butter or a slice of butter and sugar.
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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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Clove + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,045 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Soften during cooking and provide the fruity filling inside the pastry.
- Good pastry dough
- Encloses the apple and forms a sealed, tender wrapper as it cooks.
- Cloves
- Add a warm, spiced aroma that flavours the apple as it cooks.
The step that matters
Tie each wrapped apple in a piece of cloth. The cloth must hold the pastry closed and snug around the apple; a loose or gappy wrap lets pastry split or water seep in while the dumplings boil.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Clovethe original
- Sagefits about as well
- Nutmegfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, 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.
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