Why it works: Sugar and biscuit are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,874 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓
Steam Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Quarter the apples and place them in a pan in three layers.
Nearly cover the apples with water and sprinkle sugar over them.
Cover the pan tightly with biscuit dough.
Steam the pudding until cooked through and serve with sauce.
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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Sugar + biscuittop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,874 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Apple + biscuittop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together260 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, biscuit):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, biscuit. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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