Name: Swiss Pudding
Ingredients: 1 lb stewed apples; 3 tablespoons brown sugar; 1 lb breadcrumbs; 2 oz suet, finely chopped; 1 oz butter

Why it works: Apple and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,706 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Swiss Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA sharp oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a sharp oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Stew the apples until tender.
Mix the chopped suet with the breadcrumbs and brown sugar.
Grease a pie dish.

Assemble and bake

Layer half of the breadcrumb mixture at the bottom of the dish.
Add the stewed apples on top of the breadcrumb layer.
Top with the remaining breadcrumb mixture.
Break the butter into small pieces and place on top.
Bake for 30 minutes in a 400°F (200°C) oven.

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.

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.

Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

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

Stewed apples: Provide the moist, soft fruit layer that softens and sweetens the pudding.
Breadcrumbs: Form the bulk of the layers and absorb moisture from the apples and fat.
Suet: Adds richness and a tender texture as it melts into the breadcrumbs.
Brown sugar: Adds sweetness and a deeper, caramel-like flavor.
Butter: Adds fat that melts over the top, enriching flavor and encouraging browning.