Others mention how pies call for different apples. In the same vein, my father's cousin, a farmer and now sadly no longer with us, had a strong opinion about apples that were best for applesauce. Sadly, I don't remember which variety. He lived in rural Ontario, Canada, and knew the only farm in the area that grew that variety, so that's where we'd go to buy apples when it was time to make applesauce.
Yeah, I wish there was an index organized by "baking", "eating", "sauce".
About 20 years ago I was visiting a friend in south eastern Indian. While buying groceries at a local chain there was a chatty old lady in the apple section who exclaimed that some breed of apple was available and that you didn't see them often any more and they made the best apple sauce.
Intrigued I bought some even though I had no plan to make apple sauce and threw them in a pot like she instructed, they turned into a perfectly sweet and flavorful sauce with no intervention at all.
It was almost a shame to add cinnamon they were so good.
I tried an uncooked slice and it was the mealiest garbage I've ever tried but as a sauce it was the platonic ideal of an applesauce. I wish I could remember the variety.
