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 ↓
Pine-apple Pudding
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the custard
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
Add the egg yolks and mix well.
Stir in the cream and grated pineapple.
Beat the egg whites until stiff and gently fold them into the mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into pie plates lined with pastry.
Bake until set and lightly golden.
Let cool and serve chilled.
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).
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Pineapple + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
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
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and set the filling, while whipped whites lighten its texture.
- Butter
- Creamed with sugar, it adds richness and a tender crumb to the filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps cream the butter into a light, fluffy base.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, giving the filling a smooth, soft texture.
- Grated pineapple
- Supplies the main flavour and moisture, along with some acidity.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites gently. Whites hold air only when beaten to stiff peaks. Vigorous stirring deflates them, so the filling loses lightness and sets denser.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, 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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