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Dessert

Pineapple Pudding

A custard dessert made with milk, cornstarch, sugar, egg whites, pineapple, and a pinch of salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Pineapple Pudding

Why it works: Milk and pineapple work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 885 recipes. Both carry methyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Pineapple Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Mix cornstarch with a little cold milk.

  2. Heat the remaining milk in a saucepan.

  3. Add the cornstarch mixture to the hot milk.

  4. Stir in sugar and a pinch of salt, and let it boil until thickened.

Finish and chill

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites and half a can of pineapples.

  2. Pour into a mold and refrigerate until cold.

  3. Serve with cream or sauce.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + pineappletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together885 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + pineappletop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Cornstarch
Thickens the milk into a smooth, sliceable custard as it heats and boils.
Egg whites
Beaten whites add lightness and airy structure to the set pudding.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and gives it its creamy body.
Pineapples
Adds fruity acidity and flavour that cuts through the richness of the custard.

The step that matters

Let the custard boil until thickened. Cornstarch only thickens fully when the mixture reaches a boil, so stopping early leaves a thin pudding. Stir constantly so it does not scorch on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, 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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