Name: Apple Batter Pudding
Ingredients: 2 apples; 1 egg; 1 tablespoon sugar; 1 tablespoon butter; 2 tablespoons milk; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; cream for serving

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 Batter Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Stew the apples in a pie dish until soft.

Make and bake

In a bowl, mix the egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, and baking powder.
Pour the batter over the stewed apples.
Bake at 300°F (150°C) for 45 minutes.

Serve

Serve with cream.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,104 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Eggs: Egg binds the batter and helps it set into a light, custardy crumb.
Flour: Flour gives the batter structure as it bakes and sets.
Baking powder: Baking powder releases gas in the batter, helping it rise and lighten.
Butter: Butter adds fat, richness and a tender texture to the crumb.
Apples: Apples soften as they stew and provide moisture and fruity flavour beneath the batter.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, cream):

Vanillafits better
Raisinfits better
Coconutfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, milk, flour, cream. 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.