Name: Common Apple Pudding
Ingredients: 4 cups chopped apples; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; ½ teaspoon salt; 1 cup milk; 2 tablespoons butter, melted; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Common 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. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, mix the chopped apples with sugar.
In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.

Make the batter

Add milk, melted butter, and vanilla to the dry ingredients; mix well.
Fold in the apple mixture.
Pour the batter into a greased baking dish.

Bake

Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,187 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Apple + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,501 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Apple + milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,104 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Apples: Provide the fruit flavor and moist, tender pieces throughout the pudding.
Flour: Forms the structure of the batter as it sets in the oven.
Baking powder: Releases gas that helps the pudding rise and become light.
Butter: Adds richness and fat that contribute to a tender texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the pudding and aids browning on the surface.
Milk: Hydrates the flour and adds moisture to form the batter.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, milk, butter, vanilla):

Figfits better
Raisinfits better
Peachfits better
Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, milk, butter, vanilla. 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.