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 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
Quarter, core, and peel the apples.
Line a pie dish with plain pastry.
Fill the dish with the apples and sprinkle sugar over them.
Add the butter, cut into small pieces, and sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg if desired.
Assemble the pie
Roll the top crust larger than the pie plate and cut a gash in the center.
Moisten the inner edge of the lower crust slightly.
Place the upper crust on top, press the edges together lightly, and trim.
Bake
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350°F (175°C) and bake for an additional 15 to 25 minutes.
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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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 body and tart flavor of the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and helps draw out juices that form the filling.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the apples as it melts during baking.
The step that matters
Moistening the inner edge of the lower crust. Dampening the edge helps the top and bottom crusts bond, so the seal holds and juices stay inside the pie while it bakes.
“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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