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Dessert

Apple Tapioca Pudding

A baked dessert of apples and tapioca sweetened with sugar and optionally spiced with cinnamon.

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

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Peel, core, and cut the apples into quarters.

  3. Place the apples in a buttered baking dish.

  4. Soak the tapioca in enough water to cover it until it is soft.

  5. Pour the soaked tapioca over the apples.

Bake

  1. Sprinkle the sugar on top and add water; use less water if the apples are very juicy.

  2. If the apples lack flavor, add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

  3. Cover the dish and bake for 1 hour.

  4. Remove the cover and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

  5. Serve cold or warm with plain or whipped 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.

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 + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

Sugar and cinnamon 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

Tart apples
Provide the main fruit body and tart flavor that balances the sweetness.
Tapioca
Softened by soaking, it thickens the juices and gives the pudding its tender, gel-like texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps draw juice from the apples as they bake.
Cinnamon
Adds warm aroma and spice to the apples.

The step that matters

Adjusting the water for the apples' juiciness. Apples release liquid as they bake, and tapioca thickens with that liquid. Too much added water can leave the pudding thin and watery, while too little may leave the tapioca underhydrated and firm. Judge the apples before adding water.

“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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