Name: Apple Pudding
Ingredients: apples, peeled, cored, and sliced; butter, for greasing; stale cake crumbs; 2 tablespoons melted butter (for every pint of apples); 2 eggs; 2 tablespoons sugar (more if apples are tart); 1 cup milk; cream, for serving

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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Butter a baking dish thickly.

Layer the apples

Layer the sliced apples in the dish, alternating with stale cake crumbs and melted butter.
Ensure the last layer is a thick layer of cake crumbs.
Bake until the apples are tender.

Make the custard and bake

In a bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar. Pour the milk over the apples.
Bake until the pudding is a rich golden color.
Serve warm with cream.

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.

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,104 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the custard and help the pudding set as it bakes.
Apples: Provide the main body, moisture and tartness of the pudding.
Stale cake crumbs: Absorb the butter and milk and add structure between the apple layers.
Milk: Forms the liquid custard that sets around the apples and crumbs.
Sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the tart apples and aids browning.