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Dessert

Cocoanut Pie

A sweet coconut pie made with milk, sugar, eggs, flour, and grated coconut, baked in a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 25 ingredients
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Cocoanut Pie

Why it works: Flour and raisin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,075 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cocoanut Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Grate a small coconut and mix with 4 level tablespoons of flour.

  2. Separate the yolks of 3 eggs and set aside; keep 1 pint scalded milk.

  3. Measure 24 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.

  4. Mix sugar and flour. Moisten the mixture with a little cold milk.

  5. Add the egg yolks.

  6. Pour the mixture over the scalding milk.

  7. Cook and stir constantly until thick.

  8. Cool the mixture and flavor it.

Assemble and brown

  1. Add 1/3 coconut and place the mixture in a baked pie shell.

  2. Beat the whites of 3 eggs stiff. Mix in a little coconut and 1/3 cup powdered sugar.

  3. Spread the mixture over the pie, and top with the rest of the coconut.

  4. Put the pie under fire and brown.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

923Calories
45 gProtein
16 gFat
146 gCarbs

Counts 10 of 11 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Yogurt170g plain Greek100
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Grape1/2 cup (76g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
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 Hamilton, Ohio. First Methodist Episcopal church. [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.

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. Flour + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Cinnamon + raisintop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,390 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  4. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard, and whipped whites form the light topping.
Flour
Thickens the milk mixture so the custard sets firm when cooled.
Coconut (in the method)
Provides the main flavor and chewy texture in both custard and topping.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps the topping brown.

The step that matters

Cook and stir constantly until thick. Egg yolks and flour can scorch or lump on the bottom of the pan if not stirred. Constant stirring keeps the custard smooth and lets the starch and egg proteins thicken it evenly before cooling.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, vanilla, flour, cinnamon, bread, cream):

  1. Figfits about as well
  2. Raisinthe original
  3. Peachfits less well
  4. Blueberryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, vanilla, flour, cinnamon, bread, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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