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Dessert

Boiled Apple Pudding

A boiled apple pudding with suet, flour, apples, sugar, cloves, lemon peel, nutmeg, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Boiled Apple Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the crust

  1. Make a paste with finely chopped suet, twice the amount of flour, a pinch of salt, and a little water.

  2. Roll the paste thin into a large piece.

  3. Put the rolled paste over a well-buttered basin and push it in to line the basin.

  4. Cut the paste off all round to leave enough to fold.

  5. Roll out the trimmings to a size to cover the top of the basin.

Fill and seal

  1. Pare, core, and slice a quantity of good sound apples.

  2. Put the sliced apples in the basin in layers.

  3. Scatter sugar between each layer, and add one or two cloves, or chopped lemon peel, or a little grated nutmeg.

  4. Add a small piece of fresh butter.

  5. Pack the apples tightly.

  6. Put the cover of paste over the apples.

  7. Turn the edges and press them down.

  8. Tie a floured pudding cloth over the basin.

Boil

  1. Put the basin into a saucepan of boiling water and keep it covered with water.

  2. Boil from two to three hours, according to size.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

133Calories
1 gProtein
13 gFat
6 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Goff, May Perrin, [from old catalog] ed. 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. See the original page.

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. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Clove + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Suet (in the method)
Melts during boiling to make the crust rich, tender and moist.
Flour (in the method)
Forms the paste structure that holds the crust together while it boils.
Apples (in the method)
Provide the filling's bulk and tart flavour as they soften under steam.
Sugar (in the method)
Sweetens the apple layers and balances their natural tartness.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling as it melts into the apples.

The step that matters

Keep the basin covered with boiling water. If the water level drops or boils too weakly, the pudding cooks unevenly and the crust can turn soggy or stay doughy. Steady, full immersion gives even heat through the basin.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, clove, nutmeg):

  1. Figfits about as well
  2. Coconutfits about as well
  3. Quincefits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, clove, nutmeg. 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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