Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Water Tapioca Pudding--Excellent
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the tapioca
Soak tapioca in 1 cup of water.
Cook the soaked tapioca in the remaining water with sugar until it becomes transparent.
Make the custard
Beat the egg yolks, reserving a spoonful of sugar to beat with the yolks.
Add the beaten yolks to the cooked tapioca, flavor, and pour into a pudding dish.
Top and finish
Beat the egg whites with 1–2 tablespoons of sugar to make a meringue.
Sprinkle stewed or steamed raisins over the pudding before the meringue is put on.
Spread the meringue over the pudding.
Replace some of the water with lemon juice or other fruit juices for variety.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 2 of 3 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 2 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tapioca
- Starch that thickens the pudding as it cooks and turns it translucent.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and thicken the custard, while whipped whites form the airy meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps stabilise the beaten egg whites for the meringue.
The step that matters
Cook the soaked tapioca until transparent. Tapioca starch must be fully cooked to thicken properly and lose its raw, chalky texture. Cooking until the pearls turn clear shows the starch has gelatinised, giving the pudding a smooth, set body.
“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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