Why it works: Apple and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,790 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Apple Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Select tart, spicy apples, wash, cut into quarters, remove blossom and stem ends, and core without peeling.
Soak the apples in cold water until ready, then drain.
Cook and sweeten the sauce
Place apples in a granite saucepan and add boiling water in a 1:2 ratio (1 quart apples to 2 cups water).
Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer until tender.
Press the mixture through a colander and measure the sauce.
For each cup of sauce, stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar over heat until steaming hot.
Serve
Serve hot or cold.
If serving hot, add 1 teaspoon of butter per cup.
If serving cold, stir in a slight grating of nutmeg or a small amount of ground cinnamon.
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 + nutmegtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,790 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,147 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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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Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together24,377 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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, pectin and tart flavour that give the sauce its body and taste.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the apples.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded mouthfeel to the hot sauce.
The step that matters
Simmering until tender. Apples must be fully softened so they press through the colander into a smooth sauce; undercooked pieces stay grainy and resist straining.
Swap the nutmeg
The recipe marks nutmeg as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar, sauce, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Gingerfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Clovefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar, sauce, butter. 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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