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Dessert

Boston Apple Pudding

A baked apple pudding with apples, cinnamon, lemon, sugar, eggs, butter, nutmeg, and puff pastry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Boston Apple Pudding

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.

Prepare the apples

  1. Peel and core the apples. Cut them into small pieces.

  2. Place the apples in a saucepan with a little water, cinnamon, and lemon peel.

  3. Stew over low heat until soft.

  4. Drain the water.

  5. Sweeten the apples with moist sugar.

  6. Pass through a fine sieve.

Make the filling

  1. In a bowl, mix the apple puree with egg yolks, egg white, butter, grated nutmeg, lemon peel, and lemon juice.

Bake and serve

  1. Line a pie dish with puff pastry.

  2. Pour in the apple mixture.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
Provide the bulk of the pudding and its fruity flavour and moisture once cooked to a puree.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help it set into a custard-like texture when baked.
Egg white
Adds structure and lightness to the filling as it sets in the oven.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing to a smooth, tender texture.
Puff pastry
Forms the crisp, flaky shell that holds the filling and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Pass the apples through a fine sieve. Sieving cooked apples removes lumps and fibrous bits, giving the filling a smooth texture so it sets evenly rather than grainy.

Swap the apple

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cinnamon, lemon, sugar, egg, butter, nutmeg. 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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