Name: Apple Sago
Ingredients: 5 oz. sago; 1½ lbs. apples; juice of 1 lemon; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; sugar to taste; 1½ pints water

Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Apple Sago

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sago

Wash the sago.
Cook the sago in 1½ pints of water with the cinnamon until soft.

Prepare the apples

Peel, core, and cut the apples into pieces.
Cook the apples in just enough water to prevent burning until soft.
Rub the cooked apples through a sieve.

Combine and set

Mix the sieved apples with the sago.
Add sugar and lemon juice.
Cook gently for a few minutes until the sago is soft.
Pour the mixture into a wetted mold.
Refrigerate until cold.

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.

Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together30,779 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,551 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Cinnamon and sugar 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

Sago: Swells and softens into tender grains that give the dessert its body and chewy texture.
Apples: Cook down into a pulp that adds moisture, body, and natural sweetness.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the apples and balances the sugar.
Sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the tartness of the apples and lemon.

The step that matters

Cooking the apples in just enough water. Too little water lets the apples scorch on the bottom of the pan, while too much dilutes their flavor and makes the purée thin. Stirring gently and checking the water level keeps the apples soft and the purée smooth and well flavored.