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Dessert

Cocoanut Pie

A coconut custard pie made with grated coconut, sugar, milk, eggs, and salt, baked like custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Landmarks Club · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Cocoanut Pie

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 ↓

Cocoanut Pie

three pies

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Combine grated coconut, sugar, milk, eggs, and salt.

  2. Beat together sugar, yolks of eggs, and cornstarch.

  3. After milk has come to a boil, stir in the mixture.

  4. Add a pinch of salt and cook until thick.

Make the meringue

  1. Take the whites of the three eggs, beat to a stiff froth with two tablespoonfuls of sugar.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake the crust before putting in the mixture.

  2. Spread whites over top and brown.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

731Calories
27 gProtein
14 gFat
120 gCarbs

Counts 5 of 6 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Pienot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Landmarks Club. 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. See the original page.

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

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

  2. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and milk 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

Grated coconut
Adds flavor and body, and moisture to the filling.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the starch and eggs thicken into a custard.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard, and whites form the stiff topping that browns.
Cornstarch
Thickens the filling so it sets into a sliceable custard when cooked.
Sugar
Sweetens the filling and helps the whites hold a stiff, glossy froth.

The step that matters

Cooking the filling until thick after stirring in the mixture. Cornstarch thickens only when heated, and eggs can scramble or curdle if the hot milk is added too fast. Stir steadily and cook until the custard is thick before removing it from the heat.

“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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