Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Mix the salt, baking soda, and cream of tartar with the flour, then sift.
Beat the egg lightly and add the milk.
Rub the butter into the flour mixture.
Make and top the pudding
Pour the milk and egg mixture into the flour and mix quickly and thoroughly.
Spread the dough about ½ inch deep on a buttered baking pan.
Peel, core, and cut the apples into eighths, then arrange them in rows on the dough.
Sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for about 25 minutes.
Serve
Serve with sugar and cream or a simple sauce.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Apple + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,104 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Flour
- Forms the dough structure that holds the pudding together as it bakes.
- Baking soda
- Reacts with the acid in cream of tartar to produce gas that lifts the dough.
- Cream of tartar
- Acts as an acid that works with baking soda to help the dough rise.
- Egg
- Binds the dough and adds structure and richness as it sets in the oven.
- Milk
- Adds moisture to the dough, helping it come together and bake tender.
- Apples
- Provide moisture and tartness that contrast with the sweet, baked dough.
The step that matters
Mix the milk and egg into the flour quickly and thoroughly. Once liquid meets the baking soda and cream of tartar, gas starts forming, so delay lets the rise weaken. Overmixing develops gluten, which can make the dough tough.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, flour, egg, milk, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, flour, egg, milk, 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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