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Dessert

Apple Gems

Apple Gems is a cake made with chopped sour apples, beaten egg, molasses, cornmeal, sifted flour, and soda.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Egg and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Apple Gems

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Chop the sour apples very fine.

Make the batter

  1. Stir the chopped apples into a bowl with the beaten egg, molasses, cornmeal, and sifted flour.

  2. Dissolve the Magic Soda in warm water and add it to the mixture, using enough water to thin the batter.

Bake

  1. Pour the batter into buttered gem pans.

  2. Bake in the preheated oven until golden.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,429 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Apple + flourtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,140 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Apple + molassestop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together970 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Apple + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,461 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Sour apples
Add moisture and a tart flavour that balances the sweet molasses.
Beaten egg
Binds the batter and helps the gems hold their shape as they set.
Molasses
Adds sweetness, dark colour and a rich flavour to the batter.
Cornmeal
Provides the coarse, crumbly texture that gives the gems their structure.
Sifted flour
Provides structure so the batter sets into a firm, light crumb.
Magic soda
Reacts with the acidic apples and molasses to help the gems rise.

The step that matters

Dissolving the Magic Soda in warm water. Soda must be fully dissolved and evenly mixed so it reacts throughout the batter; lumps can leave bitter patches and uneven rising. Thin the batter only enough to pour, since too much water weakens the structure.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, molasses, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, molasses, flour. 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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