Why it works: Lemon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
A Common Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Make a light crust with flour and suet, then roll it thin.
Fill the crust with peeled and cored apples.
Add lemon juice and rind, then tie it in a cloth.
Boil and serve
Boil for 1 hour and 20 minutes before Christmas, then 20 to 30 minutes longer after Christmas.
Stir in a small slice of fresh butter if desired, or substitute nutmeg or cinnamon for the lemon rind.
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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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + nutmegtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,790 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Flour and butter 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the light crust that holds the filling together.
- Beef suet
- Adds fat to the crust, giving it richness and a tender texture.
- Boiling apples
- Provide the main filling, becoming soft and sweet-tart as they cook.
- Lemon
- Adds acidity and aroma to the apple filling.
The step that matters
Tie the cloth loosely enough for the pudding to swell. Flour-based puddings rise and expand as they steam and the starch gelatinises. A cloth tied too tightly restricts expansion and can make the pudding dense or split, while one left too loose lets water seep in and make the crust soggy.
Swap the nutmeg
The recipe marks nutmeg as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, beef, apple, lemon, butter):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Sagefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, beef, apple, lemon, 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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