Why it works: Sherry and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,209 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Apple Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Peel and core the apples, then cut them into slices.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, combine the apples with sherry, brandy, castor sugar, brown sugar, butter, nutmeg, and water.
Boil until the apples are completely soft.
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.
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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Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,209 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Apple + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together395 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,291 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,790 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Sherry + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 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
- Break down into soft pulp to form the body of the sauce.
- Sherry
- Adds acidity and aromatic depth that balance the sweetness.
- Brandy
- Adds aroma and flavour that carries through the cooking.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps soften the apples as it dissolves.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a deeper, caramel-like flavour.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Boil until the apples are completely soft. Apples must be fully softened so that they break down easily when pressed through the sieve. Undercooked pieces stay firm and leave a grainy, lumpy sauce.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sherry, brandy, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sherry, brandy, sugar, 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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