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Dessert

Excelsioh Apple Pudding

A suet and bread crumb apple pudding with currants, almonds, brown sugar, brandy, cinnamon, spice, and egg whites, boiled for three hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Almond and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Excelsioh Apple Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Mix

  1. Mix the bread crumbs, suet, apples, currants, brown sugar, and chopped almonds in a large bowl.

  2. Add cinnamon and spice to taste.

  3. Incorporate the egg whites just before adding the brandy.

  4. Mix well to combine all ingredients.

Cook

  1. Transfer the mixture into a well-buttered pudding bag or mold.

  2. Boil for three hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Almond + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,514 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  3. Currant + brandytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Apple + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,291 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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

Bread crumbs
Provide the body that holds the pudding together and absorbs moisture.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the pudding moist and rich as it cooks.
Apples
Add moisture and a fruity tartness that balances the sweetness.
Currants
Add chewy bursts of sweetness and fruit flavor throughout.
Brown sugar
Adds sweetness and a molasses-like depth of flavor.
Egg whites
Add structure and lightness that help bind the mixture as it sets.

The step that matters

Transfer the mixture into a well-buttered pudding bag or mold.. Butter keeps the pudding from sticking when it is unmolded, and the container must be sealed or fitted well so the pudding holds its shape and does not take in too much water while boiling.

Swap the currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, apple, sugar, almond, brandy, cinnamon, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, apple, sugar, almond, brandy, cinnamon, egg. 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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