Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Apple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Steam the apples until tender.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and bread crumbs until well combined.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Assemble and bake
Fold the egg whites into the apple mixture.
Transfer to a baking dish and bake at 400°F (200°C) until light brown.
Serve
Serve with 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.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Apple + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,790 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
What each ingredient does
- Apples
- Provide the main body and moisture of the pudding as they soften when steamed.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the pudding together.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air that lifts the pudding and gives it a light texture.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and add body, helping the pudding hold its shape.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the apples.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites gently. Stiff egg whites hold air bubbles that make the pudding rise and feel light. Stirring them in vigorously knocks out that air, leaving a denser, flatter result after baking.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, bread, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, bread, 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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