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Dessert

Apple and Tapioca Pudding

A steamed apple and tapioca pudding sweetened with sugar and optional cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Apple and Tapioca Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Soak the tapioca in 1½ cups lukewarm water for 5–6 hours, stirring occasionally.

  2. Pack the apples in a deep dish and add 1 cup of lukewarm water.

Steam the apples

  1. Cover the dish and steam in a 350 °F (175 °C) oven until the apples are soft, turning them occasionally.

  2. If there is more than ¼ cup of liquid in the dish, pour some out before adding the soaked tapioca.

  3. If the apples are not very sweet, fill the center of each apple with sugar.

  4. Insert a clove into each apple before covering with tapioca.

Assemble and bake

  1. Add the soaked tapioca to the dish.

  2. Bake for 1 hour after adding the tapioca.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Tapioca
Starch that swells and thickens as it cooks, setting the pudding to a soft, jelly-like texture.
Apples
Provide tart fruit flavor and a soft texture that holds its shape while steaming.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the apples, which may not be sweet enough on their own.

The step that matters

Drain excess liquid before adding the tapioca. Tapioca thickens by absorbing liquid and swelling its starch. Too much liquid in the dish dilutes the mixture, so the pudding may stay thin and watery instead of setting to a soft texture.

Swap the clove

The recipe marks clove as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar. 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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