Name: Brown Betty Pudding
Ingredients: apples, chopped fine; cinnamon; sugar; bread crumbs; butter; milk, 2 cups; egg; sugar, 4 tablespoons; vanilla, lemon, nutmeg, or wine (optional)

Why it works: Cinnamon and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Brown Betty Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA good oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Layer the dish

Layer chopped apples in a baking dish and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Add a layer of bread crumbs mixed with butter, cinnamon, and sugar.
Repeat the layers until the dish is filled.

Bake and make the sauce

Bake for 1 to 1.5 hours at 400°F (200°C).
In a saucepan, combine milk, egg, and sugar; bring to a boil.
Flavor the sauce with vanilla, lemon, nutmeg, or wine as desired.

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.

Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,287 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,598 recipes

Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Apples: Provide the fruit base and moisture that softens as the dish bakes.
Bread crumbs: Form the layers that soak up juices and bake to a crisp, golden topping.
Butter: Adds fat that helps the crumbs brown and gives a rich flavor.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding moisture and creaminess.
Egg: Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it body.