Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Fancy Apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line a 10-inch pie pan with flake pastry.
In a bowl, mix the apples, sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour in the bottom of the pie shell and rub it in gently.
Place the apple mixture in the shell and dot with 3 teaspoons of butter, pressing it down into the apples.
Roll out the pie crust thinly, cut into narrow strips, and arrange over the top in a lattice pattern.
Bake and finish
Bake the pie until done, about 30-40 minutes.
Remove from the oven and add meringue around the edge and in the center, leaving the lattice visible.
Sprinkle shredded coconut over the lattice top without meringue.
Return the pie to the oven for about 12 minutes to set and lightly brown the meringue.
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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Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Nutmeg + coconuttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together411 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).
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Cinnamon + coconuttop 8% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together979 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 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
- Apples
- Provide the bulk of the filling and its fruity flavour as they soften during baking.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps draw moisture from the apples to form the filling.
- Flour
- Thickens the juices released by the apples so the filling sets rather than running.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour and giving a tender, savoury-sweet finish.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm aromatic flavour that complements the baked apples.
The step that matters
Baking the pie until done. Apples release juice as they heat, and the flour must cook through to thicken that juice. Underbaking leaves a runny filling and a raw starchy taste, so the pie should be baked until the filling bubbles and the crust is set.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, sugar, butter, nutmeg, flour, coconut):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, sugar, butter, nutmeg, flour, coconut. 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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