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 ↓
Amber Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the apples
Wash the apples and cut them into small pieces.
Put the apples into a saucepan with the butter, sugar, lemon rind, and juice, and stew until tender.
Rub the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the peel and pips.
Make and bake the pudding
Beat the egg yolks into the mixture.
Pour the mixture into a pie dish lined with pastry.
Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until set.
Top and finish
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks with 2 teaspoons of sugar.
Heap the beaten egg whites on top of the pudding.
Return to a cool oven (300°F / 150°C) until the whites are set.
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).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 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 the main body and flavour of the pudding once stewed and sieved.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the apple mixture and whites set into a light topping.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a smoother, softer texture.
- Moist sugar
- Sweetens the apples and helps them stew to a soft purée.
- Lemon
- Its rind and juice add aroma and acidity that brighten the sweet apples.
The step that matters
Returning the pudding to the oven for the meringue topping. Egg whites need a gentle, cool oven to set evenly; high heat can brown or toughen the topping before its centre is cooked through.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, lemon, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Orangefits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, 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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