Name: Sago and Apple Pudding, No. 2
Ingredients: 6 tablespoons sago or tapioca; 1 pint warm water; 6 sour apples; Sugar (for filling and melting); Grated nutmeg (to taste); Butter (for greasing the dish)

Why it works: Apple and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,790 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Sago and Apple Pudding, No. 2

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Soak the sago or tapioca in warm water for 30 minutes.
Pare and core the apples.
Butter a baking dish and place the apples in it.
Fill the cores of the apples with sugar and a little grated nutmeg.

Bake and finish

Melt a small cup of sugar in the sago and water mixture.
Pour two-thirds of the sago mixture over the apples.
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 1 hour.
Pour the remaining sago mixture over the apples, stirring occasionally and pressing them down.

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.

Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,790 recipes

Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together24,377 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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

Sago or tapioca: Thickens the soaking liquid around the apples as its starch sets during baking.
Sour apples: Soften during baking and supply the tart flavour that balances the sugar.
Sugar: Sweetens the apples and dissolves into the sago liquid to form a syrup.
Grated nutmeg: Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour to the apple filling.