Why it works: Apple and apricot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 777 recipes. Both carry gamma-undecalactone, which smells peach, sweet. The science ↓
Frozen Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fruit
Stew the apples until tender.
Mix the apples with the orange rind, apricot jam, and sugar.
Mash the mixture through a coarse sieve.
Freeze the mixture.
Simmer the raisins in a little sugar and water for a few minutes. Drain the raisins.
Freeze and finish
Add the drained raisins, shredded almonds, cherries, and citron to the apples when they are partly frozen.
Add the curaçao and maraschino when the mixture is almost frozen.
When the crank turns very hard, add the whipped cream. Turn a little longer.
Fill a mold as described in General Directions for Freezing Ice-Creams.
When ready, turn out of the mold and serve with a sauce of whipped cream.
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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Apple + apricottop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together777 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-undecalactone (peach, sweet).
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Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,781 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
-
Apricot + almondtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together852 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,125 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Apricot + orangetop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together703 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the bulk and body of the pudding, softened by stewing and smoothed through a sieve.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and lowers its freezing point so it stays soft and scoopable.
- Whipped cream
- Adds air and richness, giving the frozen pudding a light, smooth texture.
- Apricot jam
- Adds fruity sweetness and flavour while contributing to the pudding's smooth body.
- Curaçao
- Adds liqueur aroma and flavour; the alcohol also keeps the mixture from freezing rock hard.
- Maraschino
- Adds liqueur aroma and flavour; the alcohol also keeps the mixture from freezing rock hard.
The step that matters
Add the whipped cream when the crank turns very hard. Cream folded in too early, or into a mixture that is still liquid, will deflate and separate. Adding it once the base is nearly set keeps the air and a smooth, light texture.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (apple, apricot, sugar, orange, almond, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Peachfits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against apple, apricot, sugar, orange, almond, cream. 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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