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Dessert

Baked Apple Pudding, or Custard

A baked dessert of stewed apples mixed with sugar, wine, butter, lemon, egg yolks, and flour or crushed biscuits.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and wine are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,207 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓

Baked Apple Pudding, or Custard

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 custard

  1. Stew the apples until they are a smooth marmalade, stirring often to prevent sticking.

  2. Mix in the sugar and wine while the apples are still hot.

  3. Add the butter, lemon rind, and lemon juice, stirring until combined.

  4. Gradually stir in the beaten egg yolks and flour (or crushed biscuits/macaroons).

Bake

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes or longer.

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 + winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Wine + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,157 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

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

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the apple mixture as they set, giving the custard its body.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the custard.
Boiling apples
Form the smooth base that the custard is built on, giving bulk and flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the tartness of the apples and lemon.
Flour
Helps thicken the custard so it holds its shape when baked.

The step that matters

Gradually stir in the beaten egg yolks and flour. Adding the yolks slowly, while stirring, keeps them from clumping or scrambling in the hot apple mixture, so the custard stays smooth and sets evenly.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, wine, butter, lemon, egg, flour):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, wine, butter, lemon, egg, flour. 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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