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Dessert

Apple Pudding, No. 2

A baked apple custard with butter, sugar, eggs, cream, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Apple Pudding, No. 2

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Make the filling

  1. Grate the apples.

  2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Whisk the eggs and add them to the butter mixture.

  4. Stir in the grated apples, cream, and lemon juice and rind.

Bake

  1. Line your pie plates with a rich crust.

  2. Pour the mixture into the crust and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until set.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Apple + curranttop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,918 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  4. Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,551 recipes

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

  5. 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
Set the filling into a custard and add structure and richness.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a tender, smooth texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, when creamed with butter, helps trap air for a lighter texture.
Grated apple
Adds moisture, body and apple flavour to the filling.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, giving a softer, silkier filling.
Lemon
Adds bright acidity and aroma that balance the sweetness.

The step that matters

Bake until just set. The eggs and cream set into a custard as they heat. Overbaking makes the eggs tighten and curdle, leading to a dry, grainy, or watery texture, so check for a firm centre rather than baking for a fixed time.

Swap the currant

The recipe marks currant as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, butter, sugar, egg, cream, lemon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Blackberryfits better
  3. Strawberryfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, butter, sugar, egg, cream, lemon. 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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