Why it works: Cream and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Cherry Tapioca
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cover the tapioca with cold water and let it stand until absorbed.
Transfer the tapioca to a double boiler.
Cook
Add the cherry juice and cook slowly for about 30 minutes.
Stir in the cherries.
Chill and serve
Pour into a mold and refrigerate until very cold.
Turn out into a glass dish and serve with whipped cream sauce.
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.
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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pearl tapioca
- Swells and thickens as it absorbs liquid, giving the pudding its body and gel-like texture.
- Cherry juice
- Adds liquid and fruit flavour while it cooks with the tapioca.
- Cherries
- Add fruit flavour, colour and texture to the finished pudding.
The step that matters
Cooking the tapioca slowly in the double boiler. Tapioca starch must be heated gently with enough liquid so the grains swell fully and turn clear. Cooking too fast can scorch the bottom or leave the grains firm and cloudy in the centre.
“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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