Why it works: Apple and rice are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,311 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
American Apple Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apples
Core the apples without cutting them in half.
Fill the holes with washed rice.
Tie each apple tightly in a pudding bag.
Cook and bake
Boil the apples for 1 to 1.5 hours.
Prepare custard.
Pour custard over whole cored apples in a pudding dish.
Bake for about 30 minutes.
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.
-
Apple + ricetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,311 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Hold their shape as the main body of the pudding while softening and turning tender.
- Washed rice
- Fills the cored holes, absorbing moisture and helping the apples keep their structure while cooking.
- Custard
- Coats the apples and sets in the oven, adding richness and a creamy, soft texture.
The step that matters
Tie each apple tightly in a pudding bag. A loose bag lets water in and filling out during boiling, so the rice can wash away and the apple can break apart.
“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
You might also like
Rice Cake120 recipes
Apple Cake80 recipes
Apple Meringue75 recipes
Dried Apple Cake51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.