Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the apples
Pare and slice enough sour apples to fill a round pudding dish holding about 1 quart.
Add 2 tablespoons of water to the dish with the apples.
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix 2 teaspoons of sifted flour, 2 teaspoons of baking powder, and butter the size of an egg.
Beat 1 egg until light and add enough sweet milk to create a very stiff batter.
Spread the batter evenly over the apples with a knife.
Bake and serve
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 45 minutes.
Serve hot with cream and sugar or your preferred sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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).
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
- Sour apples
- Provide the fruit base and tart flavour that the sweet topping sits on.
- Sifted flour
- Gives the batter body and structure as it sets in the oven.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the oven so the batter rises and becomes light.
- Butter
- Adds richness and tenderness to the batter.
- Egg
- Binds the batter and adds structure and richness as it sets.
- Sweet milk
- Moistens the flour and egg into a stiff batter that bakes into a soft crumb.
The step that matters
Spreading the stiff batter over the apples. The batter must be stiff and spread evenly so it bakes into a level, cohesive topping. A thin batter would sink into the apples and bake unevenly, leaving the fruit soggy and the topping flat.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, butter, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, egg, 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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