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Preserve

Cocoanut Pudding

A pudding made from coconut soaked in milk, thickened with corn starch or a powdered cracker, and cooked with eggs, butter, salt, nutmeg, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Johnson, Vt. Congregational church. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓

Cocoanut Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak 1 cupful coconut in 1 pint of milk.

Make the custard

  1. Wait until the mixture boils.

  2. Add 1 pint cold milk.

  3. Thicken with 1 tablespoon corn starch or 1 powdered cracker.

  4. Add 3 eggs.

  5. Add a little butter.

  6. Add salt and nutmeg.

  7. Add sugar to taste.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

760Calories
29 gProtein
17 gFat
120 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cracker5 saltine crackers (15g)66
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Salt1 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.

By Johnson, Vt. Congregational 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.

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 + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  2. Corn + nutmegtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Coconut (in the method)
Adds moisture and a sweet, fragrant coconut flavour to the pudding.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that becomes the body of the pudding.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk as it heats, giving the pudding its set.
Powdered cracker
Acts as an alternative thickener, absorbing liquid and firming the pudding.
Eggs
Enrich the custard and help it set as it cooks.

The step that matters

Thicken with corn starch or cracker. Starch only thickens once the mixture is hot enough to swell its granules, so it must be fully blended and heated. Eggs added afterwards can scramble or curdle if the mixture boils too hard, so keep the heat gentle.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, corn, egg):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Dillfits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, corn, egg. 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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