Name: Apple Pie
Ingredients: 4 to 6 apples, peeled and cored; 1 teaspoon butter per pie; Nutmeg to taste; Pie crust (see Plain Pie Crust or Pie Crust, Another Way)

Why it works: Apple and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,790 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Apple Pie

Ingredients

4 to 6 apples, peeled and cored
1 teaspoon butter per pie
Nutmeg to taste
Pie crust (see Plain Pie Crust or Pie Crust, Another Way)

Directions

Make the apple filling

Stew the apples in a cooker until tender.
Drain the apples and mash them into a smooth compote.
Sweeten the compote to taste and stir in the butter while hot.
Season with nutmeg.
Once cool, fill your pie crust with the apple mixture.

Top and bake

Top with strips of crust or bake without a cover.
Optionally, add a meringue topping and brown delicately.
Bake according to directions for other pies.

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 + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,790 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Apples: Provide the bulk of the filling and, once cooked and mashed, its tender texture and flavor.
Butter: Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the hot compote.
Nutmeg: Adds warm, aromatic spice that complements the cooked apples.