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 ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Wipe the tart apples, then quarter, core, peel and slice them.
Place the sliced apples in a buttered baking dish, filling it generously.
Sprinkle sugar over the apples, about 1 tablespoon per apple.
Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice to the apples.
Dot the mixture with small pieces of butter.
If the apples are not juicy, add 1 tablespoon of water per apple.
Assemble and bake
Place a narrow strip of pastry around the edge of the dish.
Moisten the top of the pastry.
Cover the dish with a sheet of pastry, pressing the edges down.
Score the pastry in the center to allow steam to escape.
Bake in a hot oven at 425°F (220°C) until the apples are cooked and the pastry is browned, about 30 minutes.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon 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
- Tart apples
- Provide the main filling, which softens during baking while holding its shape.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour, and browns the pastry and dish edges.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps draw out juices as the apples cook.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the apple flavour and balances the sugar.
- Pastry
- Forms the crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Scoring the top crust. Cutting slits in the pastry lets steam escape during baking, so the filling does not build pressure and push the crust apart or make it soggy.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Raisinfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon. 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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