Name: Apple Sago Pudding
Ingredients: 1 teacup sago (about ½ cup); a little salt; 3 pints water (about 12 cups); several apples; 1 cup sugar; butter for sauce; sugar for sauce

Why it works: Sugar and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,147 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Apple Sago Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Soak the sago and salt in water until soft.
Pare and core the apples.
Place the apples in a deep dish.

Bake

Mix the sugar with the sago.
Pour the mixture over the apples.
Bake for 1 hour.

Serve

Stir butter and sugar together to make a sauce.
Serve the pudding with the sauce.

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.

Sugar + saucetop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,147 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,706 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,338 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together98,233 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together16,478 recipes

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

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Sago: Swells as it soaks and softens, forming the pudding's body and tender texture.
Apples: Provide the fruit base that softens and turns tender as the pudding bakes.
Sugar: Adds sweetness to the pudding and sweetens the butter sauce.
Butter: Adds richness to the sauce, giving it fat and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.