Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Boiled Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the crust
Soak the peeled and quartered apples in cold water.
Mash the boiled potatoes and mix in the butter until well combined.
Add flour and cold water to the potato mixture to form a stiff paste.
Roll out the paste to about 1 inch thick.
Dip a pudding cloth in boiling water and lay it over a large bowl.
Place the rolled crust into the cloth.
Fill and boil
Remove the apples from the cold water and layer half of them in the crust.
Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar, then add the remaining apples.
Tie the cloth tightly and place it in boiling water.
Turn the pudding frequently and boil for 3 hours.
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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Potato + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,012 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 main fruit filling and its tart, fragrant flavor.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the potato crust a tender, flavorful texture.
- Potatoes
- Form the bulk of the starchy crust, giving it body and a soft, moist texture.
- Flour
- Binds the mashed potato into a stiff paste that holds its shape while boiling.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and caramel notes to the apples as they cook.
The step that matters
Tie the cloth tightly. A loose cloth lets boiling water seep into the pudding and make the crust soggy. A snug wrap keeps the filling enclosed and holds the shape during the long boil.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, butter, flour, cinnamon, sugar):
- Sweet potatofits better
- Arrowrootfits better
- Parsnipfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, butter, flour, cinnamon, 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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