Name: Cocoanut Macaroons
Ingredients: 1 pound shredded coconut; 1 pound sugar; Meringue mixture

Why it works: Coconut and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,742 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Cocoanut Macaroons

Ingredients

1 pound shredded coconut
1 pound sugar
Meringue mixture

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare a meringue mixture.
Mix in 1 pound of shredded coconut with 1 pound of sugar.
Shape the mixture into small mounds on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until cool.

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.

Coconut + sugartop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together5,742 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Shredded coconut: Provides the bulk and chewy texture of the macaroons.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and helps the mounds brown as they bake.
Meringue mixture: Binds the coconut and adds a light, airy lift to the mounds.

“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.