We’re about to cook something delicious together. Let’s talk about apple chemistry—or better yet, apple alchemy. Applechemy? Yes. Let’s talk Applechemy.

Apples might be the funnest fruit to cook with. “Blasphemy!” says your one neighbor down the street. “My peach cobbler is to die for!”

Tell your neighbor she’s probably right. Peaches are my favorite fruit and I go nutso over a good peach cobbler. But apples are something special. Here’s what makes them so interesting to cook with:

• In American grocery stores, apples come in a ton of varieties. These varieties translate to different flavors and textures while raw, and dramatically different flavors and textures while cooking.


• When fresh, the tartness and crispness of an apple is perfect to complement high-fat foods. I’ve had super thin slices of raw green apple on foods from pork chops to steak tacos. The taste really wakes you up in a way that, shockingly, compliments the flavor of meat perfectly well. Plus, while apples are raw, they still have a subtle floral aroma that is quite addicting if you eat slowly and appreciate the flavors.


• When caramelized, apple softens, mellows out, and grains a rich, caramelly flavor. It’ll still maintain the most essential part of its taste as well—my family prefers Granny Smith apples for baking because once the apples have caramelized, they’ll still be slightly tart and won’t cloy you up. Perhaps I have a bit of a sweet tooth, but I usually prefer ½ Granny Smith and ½ Gala when I’m baking apples.

I also have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for cooking with apples. For one thing, I consider myself as “American as apple pie.” You might call me an apple-pie American, a saying that was in vogue in the 1950’s that basically meant the person has traditional American values and—this is key—preferred good home cooking.

But what’s interesting about apple pie is that even though Americans have been making it since before the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it’s easy to trace its roots and identify exactly where in Europe our apple pie came from. The apple pie, in fact, is a product of Dutch and German pastry making. Me having some very strong Dutch roots, this gives me a second reason to identify with the apple pie.

So even though peaches are my favorite fruit, I have a powerful, almost spiritual drive to cook with apples when occasion calls for it.

Some Tips for Cooking with Apples

Let’s dig into the fun stuff. This is just a random collection of apple-related tips that have done me well over the years. Hopefully you can get some use from them too.

• Caramelized apples go super well with butter. The next time you’re caramelizing apples for any reason, add a generous pat of butter to the mix.
• Caramelized apples don’t need a pie crust to be delicious. My favorite low-calorie dessert is to caramelize some apples with very little added sugar, add whatever winter spices tickle my fancy (ginger, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, black pepper, etc), and serve them as is on a plate (perhaps with a dollop of whipped cream).
• Is your pie too sweet or too cloying (cloying basically means you get tired of the food quickly, and it’s also associated with that “tongue stuck to your mouth” feeling)? If so, try using Granny Smith apples. They’re very tart, which translates to a healthy amount of acidity when caramelized. Acid cuts through richness super effectively and prevents cloying.
• Is your pie too tart? I personally like cooking with a 1:1 ratio of Granny Smith and Gala apples. This introduces enough tartness to prevent cloying, but enough sweetness that I don’t need to add a ton of sugar to make it work.
• If you haven’t before, you should absolutely try a savory meal with fresh apples. To do so, cut your apples into super thin matchsticks. This is like apple surgery because of how carefully you’ll have to focus. I sometimes find my nose just inches from the cutting board because I’m so intent on getting thin apple matchsticks. But once you’ve accomplished that, tart apples (my go to are, again Granny Smith or summer apples, which grow behind my grandma’s house) they complement any high-fat meat. I’d throw them onto pork chops or a fatty steak any day.
• To peel or not to peel? It depends on how you’re eating your apples and how much time you have. If you like big chunks of caramelized apples, you should definitely peel them. Otherwise that peel will become like a skin clinging to the sides of the apples, and texturally it’s unappealing. But if you cut your apples super thin or are eating them raw, there’s nothing wrong with leaving the peel. In fact, it’ll add some real pretty color if you’re going raw. My general rule of thumb when caramelizing is if I have the time, I’ll always peel my apples.

Anyway, enough talk. Here’s a recipe:



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