Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. 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).
Make and bake the pudding
In a bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and butter until crumbly.
Add milk and egg, stirring until combined.
Place sliced apples in a deep pan and spread butter over them.
Pour the batter over the apples and bake until golden.
Serve
Once done, invert the pudding, sprinkle with sugar, butter, and nutmeg, and serve with cream or cream sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + appletop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 batter that sets around the apples as it bakes.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during baking so the pudding rises and stays light.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and helps it set into a tender, cohesive crumb.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour and gives the batter a soft, moist texture.
- Apples
- Provide moisture and tartness, and soften as they bake beneath the batter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture, and helps the top brown.
The step that matters
Invert the pudding after baking. Turning the pudding out while it is still hot and set lets the apples sit on top; if it cools too long, it can stick to the pan and tear.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, milk, 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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