Why it works: Apricot and milk work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 826 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Apricot Pudding
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 custard
Mix the cornflour and sugar in a bowl.
Add a little milk to make a thin paste.
Boil the remaining milk.
Stir in the cornflour mixture.
Boil for 14 minutes.
Separate the eggs.
Beat the yolks.
Add them to the mixture.
Bake and top
Pour the mixture into a buttered pie dish.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until the top is firm.
Remove from the oven.
Place the apricots on top with a little syrup.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Add a pinch of salt and castor sugar.
Pile on top of the pudding.
Return to the oven to brown slightly.
Serve hot or cold.
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.
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Apricot + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together826 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Cornflour
- Thickens the milk mixture into a set, sliceable custard base.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and thicken the custard; whites whipped to meringue give a light, browned topping.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that the cornflour thickens.
- Castor sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue topping become glossy and stable.
- Apricots
- Add fruit flavour and a sweet, tangy layer under the topping.
The step that matters
Boil the cornflour mixture for the full time. Cornflour starch only thickens fully when it boils, and it must cook long enough for the granules to swell and set. Stopping early leaves a thin, runny custard that will not hold its shape.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg. 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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