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Dessert

Jellied Tapioca Pudding

Dessert of cooked tapioca with sugar, currant jelly or strawberry jam, served cold with sweetened cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 19 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 19,175 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare the tapioca

  1. Soak 1 cup of pearl tapioca in 1 cup of water overnight.

  2. In the morning, place the soaked tapioca in a double boiler and add 3 cupfuls of cold water; cook slowly until it becomes transparent.

  3. Add 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of currant jelly or a cup of strawberry jam.

  4. Let the mixture cool to a very cold temperature.

Make the frozen custard

  1. Beat the yolks of 8 eggs stiffly into 2 cups of sugar.

  2. Dry the maccaroon in a hot oven until it rolls well.

  3. Mix 4 maccaroons finely, add to the eggs and stir in.

  4. Add 1 quart rich cream, stir in well, also 1 quart of new milk, add 1 teaspoon of vanilla and freeze.

  5. Add the whites beaten to a stiff froth just before putting the cream into the freezer.

Serve

  1. When ready to serve, turn out into a dish, first placing several long ladyfingers on the bottom of the dish.

  2. Serve with sweetened cream.

By [Hayes, Emma (Allen), Mrs.], 1868- [from old catalog]. 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.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,175 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Currant + brandytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Brandy + vanillatop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together806 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Vanilla + strawberry jamtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together98 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

Sugar and vanilla share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely 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
Thickens the mixture as it cooks and turns transparent, giving the pudding its body.
Eggs
Enrich the custard and, with the whipped whites, add structure and lightness to the frozen mixture.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding and helps soften the texture when frozen.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, giving a smooth, creamy texture.
Currant jelly
Adds fruit flavour, sweetness and set to the tapioca mixture.

The step that matters

Cooling the tapioca fully before adding the cream. Tapioca must be cooked until fully transparent so its starch is gelatinised and thickened; if it is not cooled completely before the cream and eggs go in, the custard can be loose and the frozen texture uneven.

Flavor stand-ins for the strawberry jam

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, currant, milk, cream, brandy, vanilla, egg):

  1. Raspberrybetter flavor fit
  2. Figbetter flavor fit
  3. Strawberrybetter flavor fit
  4. Strawberry jamthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, currant, milk, cream, brandy, vanilla, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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