Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Apple Ohaelotte
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).
Assemble
Layer buttered bread slices in the bottom of a pudding dish.
Add a layer of sliced apples, sprinkling with sugar and a dusting of cinnamon.
Repeat layering bread and apples until the dish is filled, finishing with a layer of bread on top.
Bake and serve
Bake for 30 minutes. If the bread browns too quickly, cover with a plate until the apples are cooked.
Serve warm with cream.
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.
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Bread + appletop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,790 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Bread + cinnamontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,705 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Bread
- Forms the structure of the pudding and soaks up the custard-like juices as it bakes.
- Apples
- Provide moisture and tartness, softening as they bake into the bread layers.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the top and apple layers caramelize and brown.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the bread brown and crisp on its surface.
The step that matters
Covering the dish if the bread browns too quickly. The top layer of bread can darken before the apples inside are tender. Covering the dish slows surface browning so the heat reaches the fruit and the apples cook through.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, sugar, cinnamon, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, sugar, cinnamon, 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.
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