Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Brown Betty, or Pan-dowdy
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a pudding dish, layer sliced apples on the bottom.
Assemble
Cover the apples with a layer of grated bread crumbs, thick enough to cover them.
Add small lumps of butter, sugar, and a pinch each of cloves, allspice, and double the amount of cinnamon.
Repeat the layers of apples and bread crumbs until the dish is filled, ending with a thick layer of bread crumbs and lumps of butter.
Make a space on all four sides between the dish and the pudding, then pour in ½ cup of molasses and ½ cup of cold water.
Smooth over the spaces and place the dish in a pan filled with boiling water to a depth of 1 inch.
Bake and serve
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a broom whisk can be easily inserted into the apples.
Serve hot with cream, or enjoy cold.
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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Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,189 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,874 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Allspice + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,536 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
-
Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Apple + clovetop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,774 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Form the soft, moist fruit layers that cook down into the pudding.
- Grated bread crumbs
- Form the layers that soak up the molasses and juices and set into a spoonable texture.
- Molasses
- Adds dark sweetness and moisture, and deepens the color of the bread crumbs.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that helps the crumbs brown on top.
The step that matters
Water bath around the dish. The boiling water in the pan gives gentle, even heat so the apples soften through without the top scorching or the crumbs drying out before the fruit is tender.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, molasses, sugar, butter, clove, allspice, cinnamon):
- Figfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, molasses, sugar, butter, clove, allspice, cinnamon. 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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