Why it works: Lemon and orange match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
A Rich Apple-Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the filling
Grate the apples and mix with softened butter until creamy.
Add the grated lemon rind, beaten eggs, orange-flower water, brandy, and sugar; mix well.
If apples are not tart enough, add a little lemon juice.
Bake
Line a baking dish with pastry and sprinkle candied peel over it.
Pour the apple mixture into the dish and bake for 30 minutes.
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 + orangetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together10,634 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Apple + orangetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,230 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,291 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the main bulk and moisture, and their tartness balances the sweetness.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a creamy, tender texture to the filling.
- Eggs
- Bind the filling and help it set into a custard-like texture when baked.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown lightly in the oven.
- Pastry
- Forms the base that holds the filling while it bakes.
The step that matters
Tasting the apples for tartness. Apples vary in acidity, and sugar is added to taste. Without enough acidity the pudding can taste flat and cloying, so check before baking and add lemon juice if needed.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, lemon, egg, orange, brandy, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Blackberryfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, lemon, egg, orange, brandy, sugar. 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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