Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Pineapple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the filling
Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
Add the beaten egg yolks, grated pineapple, and sweet cream; mix well.
Gently fold in the whipped egg whites.
Bake and serve
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake until set.
Optionally, use the egg whites to make a meringue topping.
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.
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.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + pineappletop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Butter
- Adds fat that makes the creamed base rich and tender.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pie and, when creamed with butter, helps trap air.
- Eggs
- Yolks set the filling and add richness; whipped whites add lightness.
- Pineapple
- Adds moisture and fruity acidity that balances the sweetness.
- Sweet cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the filling.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that gives the pie its lightness. Stirring vigorously deflates them, so fold gently with a spatula until just combined.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, cream, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, cream, 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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