Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Tapioca Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tapioca
Soak the tapioca in cold water.
Heat the soaked tapioca on the stove until thoroughly dissolved.
Make the cream
Pour in the milk and bring to a boil.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks and sugar.
Once it boils, fold in the beaten egg whites and remove from heat.
Add flavoring to taste.
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Tapioca
- Thickens the cream as its starch swells and gelatinizes when heated.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and gives the cream its body and richness.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and further thicken the cream as their proteins set with heat.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the flavor of the cream.
- Egg whites
- Folded in at the end to lighten the cream and give it an airy texture.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites once it boils, then remove from heat. Egg proteins set quickly with heat. Adding the whites at the boil and taking the pan off the heat right away keeps the cream light and smooth instead of overcooked or curdled.
“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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