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Dessert

Apple Tapioca

A sweet dessert of stewed apples mixed with cooked tapioca, sweetened with sugar and optionally flavored with nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Apple Tapioca

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Stew the sliced apples in a porcelain kettle until smooth.

  2. Drain the soaked tapioca.

Cook

  1. Stir the tapioca in slowly, cooking until clear while stirring continuously.

  2. Add sugar to taste.

  3. Flavor with nutmeg if desired.

Mold

  1. Pour the mixture into molds that have been dipped in cold water.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + nutmegtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together23,364 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

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

Tapioca
Thickens the mixture as it cooks and turns clear, giving the pudding its set texture.
Apples
Stewed to a smooth base, providing body, moisture and fruity flavor.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tart flavor of the apples.

The step that matters

Stirring the tapioca in slowly and continuously. Tapioca starch clumps and can scorch on the bottom of the pan if added all at once or left unstirred. Constant stirring keeps the starch dispersed so it thickens evenly and turns clear as it gelatinizes.

Swap the nutmeg

The recipe marks nutmeg as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Clovefits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, sugar. 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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