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Dessert

Swiss Pudding

A baked apple bread pudding made with sour apples, breadcrumbs, brown sugar, butter, cloves, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Swiss Pudding

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 ↓

Swiss Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  2. Pare, core, and slice the apples.

  3. Butter a pie dish.

Layer

  1. Cover the bottom with breadcrumbs.

  2. Add a layer of apple slices.

  3. Sprinkle brown sugar over the layer.

  4. Moisten with water.

  5. Add 2-3 cloves and small pieces of butter.

  6. Repeat layering until all ingredients are used.

  7. Finish with breadcrumbs on top.

  8. Pour a little melted butter on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover with greased paper.

  2. Bake gently for about 45 minutes.

  3. Remove the paper when the apples begin to soften to allow the surface to brown.

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.

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Apple + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,790 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,706 recipes

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

  5. Bread + clovetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,129 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Sour baking apples
Provide the main body and tart flavour that balances the sweet brown sugar.
Bread crumbs
Soak up moisture and butter, forming the soft, layered structure of the pudding.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and caramel notes as it dissolves into the apple juices.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the top crumbs brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Removing the paper at the right time. Keeping the paper on lets the apples steam and soften evenly. Removing it once they begin to soften lets the surface dry and brown, so the top does not stay pale or soggy.

Swap the clove

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, bread, 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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