Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Boiled Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the dough
Make a paste with suet, flour, salt, and enough water to form a dough.
Roll out the dough thinly and line a well-buttered basin with it.
Trim the edges, leaving enough to fold over the top.
Roll out the trimmings to cover the basin's top.
Fill and boil
Layer the sliced apples in the basin, sprinkling sugar, cloves, lemon peel, or nutmeg between layers.
Add a small piece of butter and pack the apples tightly.
Cover with the rolled-out dough, fold the edges, and press them down.
Tie a floured pudding cloth over the basin.
Place the basin in a saucepan of boiling water, ensuring it's covered with water.
Boil for 2 to 3 hours, depending on the size.
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 + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,671 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Suet
- Forms a rich, tender pastry that gives the crust its body and short texture.
- All-purpose flour
- Provides the structure that holds the dough together and lets it be rolled thinly.
- Good sound apples
- Supply the main filling, softening during the long boil into a tender, moist layer.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the apples.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the filling and keeps the basin from sticking.
The step that matters
Keep the basin fully covered with boiling water. If the water level drops below the basin during the long boil, the pudding cooks unevenly and the crust can turn soggy or dry. Steady boiling water keeps the heat even throughout.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, apple, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, apple, sugar, butter. 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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