Why it works: Apple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,551 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Pateician 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).
Line a baking dish with puff pastry.
Make the filling
Mix the grated apples, sugar, butter, lemon juice, and zest in a bowl.
Add the eggs, omitting the whites of 2 eggs, and mix well.
Pour the apple mixture into the lined dish.
Bake
Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.
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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Apple + lemontop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,551 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Apple + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,706 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide moisture and tart fruit flavor that forms the body of the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the pudding brown during baking.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender, smooth texture.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the filling and give it structure.
- Puff pastry
- Forms a crisp, flaky base that holds the filling.
The step that matters
Bake until golden, not just for the time. The eggs set as the filling heats, so the pudding is done when it is firm at the centre and golden on top. Baking for the stated time alone can leave it underset or overbaked, depending on the oven and dish.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, lemon, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, lemon, 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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