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Dessert

Apple Tapioca

A baked pudding of apples, tapioca, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,774 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Apple Tapioca

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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 tapioca

  1. Soak the tapioca in enough cold water to cover for several hours.

  2. Drain the tapioca, add boiling water and salt, and cook in a double boiler until almost transparent.

Prepare the apples

  1. Wipe, core, and peel the apples; stick two or more cloves into each apple.

  2. Place the apples in a buttered pudding dish and fill the centers with sugar.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the tapioca over the apples and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) until the apples are soft.

  2. Serve with sugar and 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. Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,774 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Clove + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Pearl tapioca
Thickens the liquid as it cooks and gives the pudding its soft, chewy body.
Sour apples
Provide the fruit base, softening in the oven and adding tartness that balances the sugar.
Sugar
Sweetens the apples and contributes to their softening and browning in the oven.

The step that matters

Cooking the tapioca until almost transparent. Tapioca starch must be fully gelatinized by simmering in water, or the pudding stays chalky and grainy. Stopping at the right point keeps it tender rather than gluey, and the pearls finish cooking in the oven.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against apple, 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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