Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the syrup
Boil the apple cores and parings in sugar and water, then strain the liquid.
Add more sugar to the strained liquid and mix in the grated lemon rind and juice.
Assemble and bake
Combine the apples with the strained liquid, cloves, and butter in a bowl.
Cover the mixture with puff pastry, sealing the edges.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until the pastry is golden.
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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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Clove + walnuttop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,592 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Lemon + clovetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,150 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Lemon + walnuttop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,149 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Form the filling and provide the fruit flavour and body of the pie.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the flaky golden crust that encloses the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the syrup develop body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the filling.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and brightness that balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Sealing the edges of the pastry. A tight seal keeps the juicy apple filling from leaking during baking, so the pastry stays crisp and the filling thickens rather than running out.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, lemon, clove, butter):
- Chestnutfits better
- Almondfits better
- Chickpeafits about as well
- Walnutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, lemon, clove, 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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