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Dessert

Marlborough Pudding

A baked apple pudding made with apples, sugar, wine, butter, eggs, lemon, milk, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Marlborough Pudding

Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Marlborough 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. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the strained apples, sugar, wine, melted butter, beaten eggs, lemon juice, lemon rind, milk, and nutmeg, and mix well until all ingredients are combined.

  2. Pour the mixture into a baking dish.

Bake

  1. Bake in the preheated oven until set and lightly browned.

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.

  1. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Apple + winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  4. Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,104 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard-like mixture as they cook, giving it structure and body.
Strained apples
Provide moisture and fruity flavour, keeping the pudding tender.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing to a tender texture and browning.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown at the surface.
Milk
Adds liquid and dairy proteins that help the pudding set and turn tender.

The step that matters

Bake until set and lightly browned. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the pudding liquid in the centre, while overbaking can make it curdled, dry, or rubbery. Watch for a firm edge and a centre that barely wobbles.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, wine, butter, egg, lemon, milk, nutmeg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Orangefits about as well
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, wine, butter, egg, lemon, milk, nutmeg. 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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