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Dessert

Cream Sauce

A baked apple and raisin pudding with bread crumbs, butter, molasses, and a cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mackay, L. Gertrude. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 ingredients
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Cream Sauce

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cream Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard topping

  1. Beat the egg white until stiff; add the well-beaten yolk of one egg and gradually add one cup of powdered sugar.

  2. Beat one-half cup of thick cream and one-fourth cup of milk until stiff, combine the mixture and add one-half teaspoon of vanilla.

Assemble the dish

  1. Butter a baking dish.

  2. Put a layer of crumbs, then a layer of apples, sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar, and dot with bits of butter.

  3. Repeat until the dish is full.

  4. Insert a knife in several places and pour in the water and molasses.

  5. Pare and chop six apples.

  6. Place a layer of apples in a well buttered pudding dish, then a layer of bread crumbs, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.

  7. Repeat until the dish is full.

  8. Add several generous lumps of butter and pour sweet milk or hot water on until it comes within an inch of the top of the pan.

  9. Four four teaspoons of melted butter over one and one-half cups of soft bread crumbs; stir until crumbs are evenly buttered.

  10. Put a layer of crumbs into a well greased pudding dish.

  11. Mix one-half cup of sugar, one pint of chopped apples, one cup of chopped raisins, one teaspoon of cinnamon and one-quarter teaspoon of cloves.

  12. Put a layer of the apple mixture over the crumbs and alternate until all is used, finishing with crumbs.

Bake and serve

  1. Set in a pan of hot water and bake for forty-five minutes.

  2. Bake in a moderate oven until brown, and serve with plain or whipped cream.

  3. Cover closely and bake for three-quarters of an hour in a moderate oven, uncover and brown.

  4. Serve hot with hard sauce, or cold with cream.

  5. Serve hot with cream or hard sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1124Calories
29 gProtein
32 gFat
181 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 13 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Molasses1 tbsp (20g)58
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Waternot in our table0

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

By Mackay, L. Gertrude. [from old catalog]. 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.

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Vanilla + appletop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,501 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Apples
Provide moisture and bulk, softening into a tender, sweet filling as they bake.
Bread crumbs
Form the layers that soak up the juices and hold the filling together.
Molasses
Adds dark sweetness and a rich flavor to the crumbs and apples.
Raisins
Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture within the apple filling.
Egg white
Whipped to stiffness to lighten the custard-style topping.

The step that matters

Cover closely, then uncover to brown. Covering traps steam so the apples cook through and stay moist; uncovering lets dry heat brown the crumbs and sugar on top.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, vanilla, bread, molasses, butter, raisin):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits about as well
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, vanilla, bread, molasses, butter, raisin. 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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