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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pastry
Mix the flour, chopped suet, salt, and water into a firm, smooth paste.
Roll out the paste to ¼ inch thick and line a greased basin with it.
Fill and cook
Fill the basin with the sliced apples, cloves, butter, and moist sugar.
Gather the overhanging paste flaps and twist them together to enclose the apples.
Tie the basin in a cloth and boil the pudding for at least 2 hours.
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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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,671 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the suet paste that encloses the filling.
- Chopped suet
- Adds richness and a tender, moist texture to the paste.
- Apples
- Provide the main filling, softening and turning moist and tender as they cook.
- Moist sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the apples develop a caramelised flavour.
The step that matters
Tie the basin in a cloth and boil the pudding for at least 2 hours. The cloth must be tied snugly and the water kept boiling so the paste cooks through and stays sealed. Loose wrapping lets water in and makes the pudding soggy.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, apple, butter, sugar):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, apple, butter, 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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