Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Apple and Caramel Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the basin
Butter the pudding basin thickly with the butter, then press in the sugar.
Mix the flour, salt, and suet together.
Make the pastry
Add just enough cold water to make a soft, but not sticky dough. Do not overwork.
Fill and seal
Roll out two-thirds of the pastry and line the buttery, sugary basin. Slice the peeled and cored apples and sprinkle the remaining sugar.
Make a circle for a lid with the remaining pastry. Moisten the edges, pinching the two layers of pastry together to seal.
Trim any surplus pastry.
Steam and serve
Cover the pudding with a double layer of greaseproof paper and steam for two hours.
Turn out the pudding for service; a caramel sauce will coat the outside.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Apple | 1 medium (182g) | 95 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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.
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Sugar + appletop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Self-raising flour
- Forms the structure of the pastry and lightens the dough as it steams.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the pastry tender and rich during steaming.
- Soft brown sugar
- Lines the basin and melts into a caramel that coats the pudding.
- Cooking apples
- Provide the fruit filling that softens and becomes moist as it steams.
- Butter
- Greases the basin so the sugar and pudding release cleanly, adding flavour.
The step that matters
Do not overwork the dough. Overworking develops gluten in the flour, making the pastry tough and chewy rather than soft and tender. Adding only enough cold water keeps the dough short.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, butter):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, 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.
You might also like
Apple Pudding256 recipes
Apple Cake80 recipes
Apple Meringue75 recipes
Dried Apple Cake51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.