Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon 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 ↓
Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the filling
In a dish, layer the sliced apples and sweeten them with sugar.
Add nutmeg, lemon juice or vanilla, and mix well.
Make the crust and bake
Prepare the crust by combining flour, baking powder, butter, and salt.
Add milk gradually until a soft dough forms.
Cover the apple mixture with the crust.
Place the dish in the oven until the crust rises.
Transfer to the oven and bake until golden brown.
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.
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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Apples
- Provide the fruit base that softens and sweetens as it bakes.
- All-purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the soft dough crust that covers the apples.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the dough, helping the crust rise.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavour in the crust.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apples and promotes browning on the crust.
- Egg-sized piece of butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavour in the crust.
The step that matters
Place the dish in the oven until the crust rises. The crust needs enough heat for baking powder to release gas and set the dough while the apples cook underneath. Starting the bake too late or too cool can leave a dense, underbaked crust.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, nutmeg, lemon, flour, egg, butter, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, nutmeg, lemon, flour, egg, butter, milk. 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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