Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Fill a dish with nicely sliced apples, sweeten them, add spices, nutmeg, a little lemon or vanilla, and cover with a crust; set on top of the stove until the crust rises.
When the crust rises, bake until a nice brown.
Add a little salt. Then add the sugar and stir. Then flavor with vanilla, and add a little nutmeg in a bowl.
Crust: One quart flour, three teaspoons Breadmaker's Baking Powder, a piece of butter the size of an egg, salt, and enough milk to mix a soft dough.
Sauce: Beat one egg and one cup fine sugar very light; pour a little boiling water over until the consistency of cream. Flavor with vanilla, and grate a little nutmeg on top.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Nutmeg | 1 tsp ground (2.2g) | 12 |
| Salt | 1 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.
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.
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together23,364 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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 crust that holds the baked pudding together.
- Breadmaker's baking powder
- Releases gas that lifts the crust so it bakes light rather than dense.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps the sauce brown and take on body.
- Egg
- Beaten light, it adds richness and airy body to the sauce.
The step that matters
Let the crust rise before baking. The baking powder must lift the dough while it sits on the stove. Putting the crust in the oven before it has risen can leave it heavy and dense instead of light.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, sugar, egg):
- Jalapenofits better
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, sugar, egg. 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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