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 ↓
Flan of Apples
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the apples
Peel, core, and cut each apple into 8 sections.
Place the apples in a saucepan with cloves and sherry. Cover the saucepan.
Cook the apples in a water bath until tender.
Bake the pastry
Line a 6-inch flan ring with rolled pastry about ¼ inch thick.
Fill the pastry with rice on buttered paper. Bake the pastry at 400°F (200°C).
Remove the rice and paper.
Assemble and bake
Fill the pastry with apples arranged in a pyramid.
Strain any juice over the apples. Sprinkle the apples with sugar.
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks. Spread the whipped egg whites over the apples.
Dredge the apples with castor sugar. Bake at 300°F (150°C) until lightly browned.
Serve hot or cold.
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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Apple + sherrytop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together395 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Sherry + clovetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,237 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
- Apples
- Provide the bulk and fruity flavour, softening into a tender filling as they cook.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a meringue that sets on the apples and browns in the oven.
- Pastry
- Forms a crisp base that holds the filling and keeps it from soaking through.
- Sherry
- Adds aromatic, fruity flavour to the apples as they cook.
The step that matters
Baking the pastry blind. Weighting the pastry with rice on paper keeps it from puffing and shrinking, so the base stays flat and crisp under the wet filling.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, sherry, egg):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Clovethe original
- Gingerfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, sherry, egg. 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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