Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. 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 the apples
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Fill a quart pudding dish two‑thirds full with quartered apples.
Add sugar, lemon juice, nutmeg, and cinnamon to the apples.
Cook in the oven until the apples are soft.
Make the pastry
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.
Work in butter with your fingers until crumbly.
Mix in milk to form a dough.
Roll out the pastry to fit the pudding dish.
Place the pastry on top of the apples.
Bake covered for about 20 minutes.
Make the sauce and serve
For the sauce, combine boiling water, cornstarch, and butter in a saucepan.
Flavor the sauce with vanilla or lemon extract.
Run a knife around the edge of the pudding.
Turn it out.
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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the fruit filling that softens during baking and gives the pudding its body.
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the pastry as its starches set during baking.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough so the pastry rises and becomes light.
- Butter
- Coats flour particles to keep the pastry tender and adds richness.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the sauce when heated in liquid, giving it body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the tartness of the apples.
The step that matters
Thickening the sauce. Cornstarch only thickens fully once the liquid is heated to a boil and stirred. Added dry or left unstirred, it clumps and stays thin or lumpy.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour, butter, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour, butter, milk. 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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