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Dessert

Apple Custard Another

A dessert of stewed apples in custard, cooked in a water bath.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Apple Custard Another

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Boil the water, sugar, and cloves together, then skim off any foam.

Stew the apples

  1. Add the sliced apples and stew until the liquid is nearly gone.

  2. Transfer the apples to a deep dish and remove the cloves once cooled.

Set the custard

  1. Pour the custard over the apples.

  2. Cook by placing the dish in boiling water until the custard sets.

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 + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

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

  3. Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 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

Pippin apples
Provide the fruit base that softens and sweetens as it stews.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the apples and syrup while helping them hold their shape.
Custard
Forms a set, creamy layer over the apples when gently cooked.

The step that matters

Stew the apples until the liquid is nearly gone. Cooking off the excess liquid concentrates the apple flavor and keeps the fruit from making the custard watery once it is poured over.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Nutmegfits less well

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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