Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Apple Pie
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
Line a pie tin with rich pie crust.
Layer thinly sliced tart apples in the tin.
Sprinkle sugar over the apples.
Repeat layering apples and sugar until the dish is full.
Add the toppings and bake
Dot the top with small pieces of butter.
Sprinkle flour over the top.
Add 1 cup of water.
Season with cinnamon or nutmeg.
Cover with the top crust and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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 that softens and gives the pie its body and tartness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps draw out juices that form the syrup.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that melts into the filling and carries flavour.
- Flour
- Thickens the juices from the apples so the filling sets rather than running.
- Rich pie crust
- Forms the structure that holds the filling and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Sprinkle flour over the top. Flour is the thickener here, so it must be spread evenly over the apples and sugar; uneven flour leaves pockets of runny juice or starchy lumps once the juices bubble and thicken.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, cinnamon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, cinnamon. 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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