Why it works: Brandy and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Line a deep pan with rich pastry.
Make the filling
Cream the butter in a bowl, then add sugar and beaten egg yolks.
Stir in the brandy, wine, grated nutmeg, and cooked apples (rubbed through a sieve).
Bake and serve
Make a meringue with the egg whites and spread it over the pudding.
Return the pudding to the oven just long enough to brown the meringue nicely.
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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Brandy + winetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,427 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Wine + appletop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,207 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Brandy + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,291 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Nutmeg + appletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,790 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Butter + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,645 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind the filling, while whites form the meringue topping.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender texture to the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps cream the butter into a smooth base.
- Cooked apples
- Provide the main fruit body and moisture for the pudding filling.
- Brandy or whisky
- Adds aroma and warmth to the filling.
The step that matters
Return the pudding to the oven just long enough to brown the meringue nicely.. Meringue sets and browns quickly in heat, and overbaking can make it weep, shrink, or toughen while the filling overcooks.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, sugar, brandy, wine, apple):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, sugar, brandy, wine, apple. 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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