Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
With Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Pare and core the apples, placing them whole in the pans.
Fill the core holes with sugar and butter, and grate nutmeg over them.
Add enough water to wet the pans.
Cover the pans with a thick sheet of paper.
Bake the apples
Bake until done, basting with the syrup occasionally.
Make the batter
Mix the flour, milk, melted butter, sugar, and eggs to form a smooth batter, beating well.
Finish and bake
Pour the batter over the cooked apples.
Bake for half an hour.
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.
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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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Provides the starch and gluten network that gives the pudding its body and structure.
- Eggs
- Set when heated, binding the batter and giving the pudding a firm, custard-like texture.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and softness to the batter and helps it bake into a tender crumb.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and moisture, and helps the crumb brown at the surface.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and, with heat, promotes browning on the surface and in the syrup.
- Apples
- Supply the main fruit flavour and moisture, and soften and sweeten as they bake.
The step that matters
Mix the batter until smooth. Beating well fully combines the flour with the liquid and eggs so the pudding bakes evenly without lumps. Lumps of dry flour can leave pockets, while the eggs must be fully incorporated to set uniformly.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, milk, butter, sugar, egg, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, milk, butter, sugar, egg, cinnamon. 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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