Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓
Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the crust
Mix the chopped suet, flour, and salt in a bowl; add enough water to form a stiff paste.
Butter a basin and line it with the paste, reserving some for the cover.
Fill and boil
Add the sliced apples, sugar, and cloves to the basin, then cover with the reserved paste.
Tie the pudding securely and place it in a pot of boiling water.
Boil for 3 hours.
Finish and serve
After cooking, cut a small hole in the top and add a walnut‑sized piece of butter and a little hot water if the apples seem dry.
Serve with a sprinkle of sugar on top.
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.
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Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + clovetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,671 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Suet
- Melts during boiling to make the crust rich, tender and moist.
- Flour
- Forms the stiff paste that encloses the filling and holds its shape while boiling.
- Apples
- Supply the bulk of the filling and moisture that cooks down into the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the tartness of the apples.
The step that matters
Keeping the pudding sealed and boiling. The paste must be sealed and the pot kept at a steady boil so steam cooks the pudding evenly and the crust stays intact. If water gets inside, the filling turns soggy.
Swap the clove
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, apple, sugar, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Clovethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, apple, 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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