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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pastry
In a bowl, mix flour, suet, baking powder, and water until well combined.
Roll the mixture into a paste about ½ inch thick and slightly larger than a dinner plate.
Place a floured cloth in a basin and put the paste on it.
Fill and wrap
In a separate bowl, combine apples, sugar, and cinnamon.
Place the apple mixture in the center of the paste, fold the cloth over, and tie it tightly.
Boil and serve
Put the wrapped pudding into a pot of boiling water with a plate underneath to prevent direct contact.
Boil for 1½ hours.
Serve with a sweet sauce flavored with sherry wine or lemon.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the paste that wraps and holds the filling.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pastry tender and moist as it cooks.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas that helps the paste rise and lighten while it steams.
- Apples
- Provide moisture and tartness that soften and flavor the filling as it cooks.
The step that matters
Tying the cloth tightly. A loose or poorly sealed cloth lets boiling water seep in, making the pudding soggy and watery. A snug wrap keeps steam and moisture inside so the pastry cooks evenly.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, cinnamon. 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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