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Dessert

Apple Pudding

A dessert of apples simmered in Hungarian wine, water, sugar, and butter.

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

Why it works: Wine and apple 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 ↓

Apple Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apples

  1. Peel and core the apples.

  2. Place the apples in a basin and cover with water.

  3. Add sugar and a bit of butter to taste.

  4. Pour the Hungarian wine over the apples.

Cook and serve

  1. Cover the basin and boil until the apples are tender.

  2. Serve warm.

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. Wine + appletop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,207 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Apples
Form the body of the pudding, softening into a tender, spoonable texture as they cook.
Hungarian wine
Adds liquid and a fruity, aromatic flavour that infuses the apples as they cook.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the apples and wine.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, rounder mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Boil until the apples are tender. A gentle, covered boil softens the apple flesh evenly while helping it hold its shape. A hard, uncovered boil can break the apples into mush, and stopping too early leaves them firm in the centre.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Vanillafits about as well
  2. Applethe original
  3. Grapefits about as well
  4. Peachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against wine, 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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