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Dessert

Pear, Peach and Apple Pudding

A custard pudding made with pears, cream, eggs, sugar, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,686 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Pear, Peach and Apple Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

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 the pears

  1. Peel and slice the pears.

  2. In a saucepan, combine pears, cloves, lemon or orange peel, and water; simmer for 15 minutes.

  3. Transfer the pears to a pudding dish.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together.

  2. Add flour, nutmeg, and salt; mix well.

  3. Gradually stir in the cream or milk.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the custard mixture over the pears.

  2. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until set.

  3. Serve cold with sweetened cream.

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.

  1. Clove + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,686 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Pear + clovetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together512 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the custard into a sliceable, tender structure as they cook.
Cream or milk
Provides the liquid and richness that make the custard smooth and tender.
Flour
Thickens the custard so it holds together rather than running loose.
Pears
Supply the fruit flavor and moisture that sit beneath the baked custard.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the eggs and cream.

The step that matters

Bake until set. Egg proteins coagulate as the custard heats, so pulling it too early leaves it runny, while overbaking makes it grainy and watery. Watch for a just-firm center.

Swap the pear

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (clove, lemon, cream, egg, sugar, flour, nutmeg):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Orangefits better
  4. Pearthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against clove, lemon, cream, egg, sugar, flour, nutmeg. 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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