Why it works: Apricot and milk work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 826 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Pudding, Apricot
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the fruit
Cook the apricots.
Remove the skins and stones.
Crack the apricot kernels.
Pound the kernels with the sugar.
Make the pudding
Crumble the spongecakes.
Pour the boiling milk over the spongecakes.
Let the mixture soak for 10 minutes.
Mix everything together well.
When cool, add the beaten eggs.
Mix thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into a greased pie dish.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.
Serve hot or cold, with custard sauce if served cold.
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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Apricot + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together826 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Eggs
- Beaten eggs bind the mixture and set it as it bakes, giving the pudding its structure.
- Spongecakes
- Soaked in hot milk, they absorb liquid and form the soft, moist body of the pudding.
- Apricots
- Cooked fruit adds moisture and a fruity, slightly tart flavour to the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and balances the tartness of the apricots.
The step that matters
Add the eggs only when the mixture is cool. Eggs begin to set when heated. Adding them to very hot milk and cake can scramble them or cook them unevenly, so the pudding may turn out lumpy rather than smooth and set evenly in the oven.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg. 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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