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 ↓
Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pare, core, and cut the apples.
Make a paste with the wheatmeal, butter, and a little cold water.
Roll out the paste and line a pudding basin with most of it.
Fill and boil
Place the apples in the basin and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Cover the apples with the remaining paste and press the edges together.
Tie a cloth over the basin and boil the pudding in a saucepan with boiling water for 2-1/2 to 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.
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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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Cinnamon + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 filling, softening during the long boil into a tender, moist fruit layer.
- Allinson fine wheatmeal
- Forms the paste that encloses the filling and gives the pudding its body.
- Butter or vegetable butter
- Adds fat to the paste, tenderising it and contributing to a short, rich texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the apple filling.
The step that matters
Pressing the paste edges together. If the edges are not sealed, water and steam can escape or enter during the long boil, letting the filling leak out or the pudding become soggy.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cinnamon, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, sugar, butter. 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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