Why it works: Apple and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,140 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Scotch 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.
Prepare the filling
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Slice the apples and place them in a granite pie pan.
Add the water to the apples.
Make and bake the crust
In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder or baking soda, and shortening until crumbly.
Stir in enough liquid (milk) to form a stiff dough.
Spread the dough over the apples.
Bake until the crust is golden and the apples are tender.
Serve warm or cold with a liquid sauce.
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 + flourtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,140 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tart apples
- Provide the fruit filling that cooks down to tender, tart slices.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the stiff crust dough as it bakes.
- Baking powder or baking soda
- Leavens the crust so it rises and bakes lighter in texture.
- Shortening
- Coats the flour particles to make the crust tender and crumbly.
The step that matters
Stir in just enough liquid to form a stiff dough. Too much liquid makes the flour develop gluten and the crust tough, while too little leaves it dry and crumbly and hard to spread over the apples.
“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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