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Dessert

Plain Apple Pudding

A baked apple pudding made with apples, butter, eggs, sugar, wine, rose water, currants, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,207 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Plain Apple Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the apple base

  1. Pare, core, slice, and stew the apples with just enough water to cover them.

  2. Put the apples in a pot and cover tightly.

  3. When tender, mash the apples finely and add the butter while warm.

Finish the filling

  1. Once cool, whisk the eggs and gradually stir them into the apple mixture.

  2. Add the sugar, rose-water, wine, and spices, mixing well.

  3. If not sweet enough, add more sugar to taste.

Bake

  1. Line your baking plates with pastry and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Apple + winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Rose + curranttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together494 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  3. Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Apples
Provide the main body and flavor of the pudding once stewed and mashed.
Eggs
Bind the filling and help it set into a custard-like texture when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel to the mashed apples.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and can be adjusted to taste.
Currants
Add small bursts of sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.

The step that matters

Whisking the eggs into the apple mixture. Eggs should be cooled before they are added so they do not scramble in the warm apples. Adding them gradually and stirring well keeps the mixture smooth and evenly set when baked.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, butter, egg, sugar, wine, rose, currant):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Clovefits less well
  4. Allspicefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, butter, egg, sugar, wine, rose, currant. 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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