Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Tapioca Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Cover three tablespoons tapioca with water and stand overnight.
Make the custard
Add one quart milk, a small piece of butter, a little salt, and boil.
Beat the yolks of three eggs with a cup of sugar, and boil the whole to a very thick custard. Flavor with vanilla.
Finish
When cold, cover with beaten whites of eggs.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 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
- Soaked starch that thickens the milk as it heats, giving the pudding its body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the tapioca swells in and the custard is built on.
- Eggs
- Yolks set as they heat and thicken the custard; beaten whites form the topping.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the custard set smoothly with the yolks.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer flavour and softer mouthfeel in the pudding.
The step that matters
Boil the yolk mixture to a very thick custard. Egg yolks thicken by coagulating as they heat. Boiling too hard or too long can curdle them, so the custard must be thick but still smooth.
“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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