Name: Old-fashioned Apple Pie
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: 500g shortcrust pastry , rolled to the thickness of a 20p coin; 1kg Bramley apples , peeled, cored, sliced and tossed in a squeeze of lemon juice; 3 tbsp plain flour; 100g golden caster sugar , mixed with ½ tsp cinnamon and a good grating of nutmeg; 1 egg , separated; whipped cream or custard to serve

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Old-fashioned Apple Pie

Serves 6

Ingredients

500g shortcrust pastry , rolled to the thickness of a 20p coin
1kg Bramley apples , peeled, cored, sliced and tossed in a squeeze of lemon juice
3 tbsp plain flour
100g golden caster sugar , mixed with ½ tsp cinnamon and a good grating of nutmeg
1 egg , separated
whipped cream or custard to serve

Directions

Step-by-step directions aren't available for this recipe. See the full recipe at the source →

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

758Calories

21 gProtein

13 gFat

141 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Apple	1 medium (182g)	95
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Cream	1 tbsp (15ml) heavy	51
Sugar	1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated	49
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Nutmeg	1 tsp ground (2.2g)	12
Cinnamon	1 tsp ground (2.6g)	6
Pastry	not in our table	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

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.

Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,917 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11,318 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (lemon, flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, cream):

Raisinfits better
Vanillafits better
Blueberryfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against lemon, flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, egg, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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