Skip to main content
Dessert

Apple Pudding

A baked dessert of stewed apples in custard topped with beaten egg whites and a bread‑crumb mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Apple Pudding

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 ↓

Apple Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the apples and custard

  1. Stew the apples with ½ cup sugar and pour into a pudding dish.

  2. Make a custard by combining 1 quart milk, 3 egg yolks, ½ cup sugar, and 3 tablespoons flour; pour this over the apples.

  3. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth, add a little sugar, and pour on top of the custard.

  4. Place in a 300°F (150°C) oven for a few moments to brown.

Make the bread pudding layer

  1. Soak 2 cups bread crumbs in 4 cups hot milk, then mash well with a wire potato masher.

  2. Beat 2 eggs with ⅔ cup sugar and ¼ teaspoon salt.

  3. Add the milk and bread mixture to this, then flavor with 1 teaspoon vanilla and 2 teaspoons melted butter.

  4. Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven or cook in a steamer until firm (about 30 minutes); serve hot with sauce.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Apple + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,501 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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
Stewed apples form the fruit base that gives the pudding its moist, tender body.
Egg yolks
Thicken the milk custard so it sets soft and smooth when baked.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff froth, they add a light, airy topping that browns in the oven.
Bread crumbs
Soak up the hot milk and give the pudding body and a soft, tender crumb.
Eggs
Bind the bread and milk mixture so it sets firm when baked.
Flour
Helps thicken the custard so it holds its shape rather than running.

The step that matters

Baking the bread layer until firm. Egg-set puddings firm as proteins coagulate; too hot or too long makes them curdle, weep, or turn rubbery, so bake gently until just set.

Swap the apple

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Peachfits better
  4. Applethe original

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

More apple pudding recipes

Baked 128Boiled 64Steamed 30Sago 26Swiss 24Boston 17 See all 461 →

You might also like

Apple Bread PuddingApple Bread Pudding21 recipesBread PuddingBread Pudding153 recipesVanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesSoft Ginger BreadSoft Ginger Bread85 recipes