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Dessert

Cocoanut Pudding

A baked coconut custard made with rolled crackers, coconut, milk, eggs, butter, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 ↓

Cocoanut Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. If desiccated coconut is used, soak it about two hours in the milk before adding.

  2. Combine two cups of rolled crackers, one cup of coconut, three eggs well beaten, and one quart of milk.

Bake and make the sauce

  1. Bake for about three-quarters of an hour in an oven that is not too hot.

  2. For the sauce, cream one-half cup of butter with one cup of sugar.

  3. Add brandy or wine to the sauce to taste.

Make the custard and topping

  1. Beat the yolks of five eggs with two-thirds cup sugar, then add to one quart milk.

  2. Put mixture into a farina kettle and cook until thickened.

  3. Beat the whites stiff, adding two tablespoons sugar; drop by tablespoons into kettle of boiling water and turn.

  4. Put on top of custard when cold.

  5. Flavor to taste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

833Calories
27 gProtein
26 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

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

By Towanda, Pa. Christ church. Young ladies society. [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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

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

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked 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

Rolled crackers
Soak up the milk and give the pudding body and a soft, bread-like structure.
Eggs
Set when baked and cooked, binding the pudding and thickening the custard.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the crackers soften in and the custard is cooked from.
Coconut (in the method)
Adds the main flavour and a slightly chewy texture to the pudding.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy body to the sauce.
Sugar
Sweetens the pudding, sauce and meringue-style topping.

The step that matters

Cooking the yolk custard in the farina kettle. Egg yolks thicken gently as they heat. If the water boils hard or the custard overheats, the eggs can scramble or curdle, so cook slowly and stop as soon as it thickens.

“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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