Cocoanut Pie

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together41,516 recipes

   Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together43,450 recipes

   Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
   Smell alikelow
   Cooked together124,287 recipes

   Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together92,116 recipes

   Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

5. Butter + cocoatop 15% of all pairs
   Smell alikemoderate
   Cooked together548 recipes

   Shared aroma: delta-undecalactone (coconut, creamy).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Egg yolks

Thicken the custard filling as they set, giving it body and structure.

Beaten whites (in the method)

Add lift and a lighter texture to the filling while it bakes.

Sugar

Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown as it bakes.

Cream

Adds richness and moisture to the filling.

Coconut (in the method)

Provides the main flavor and chewy texture of the pie.

Butter

Adds fat for richness and a smooth texture.

The step that matters

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, sugar, lemon, flour, egg):

1. Almondfits better
2. Pistachiofits better
3. Chestnutfits better
4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, sugar, lemon, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.