Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Tapioca Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dissolve the tapioca in water until very soft.
Beat the egg yolks and sweeten to taste.
Boil the milk in a saucepan, then let it cool.
Make the pudding
Stir the tapioca and beaten egg yolks into the cooled milk and add flavoring.
Beat the egg whites until very light and fold them into the mixture.
Let the mixture boil for ten minutes, then pour it into molds.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Tapioca
- Starch that swells and thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the pudding its body.
- Egg yolks
- Proteins that thicken and enrich the custard, adding richness and a smooth texture.
- Egg whites
- Whipped air that folds in to lighten the pudding's texture.
- Milk
- Liquid base that gives the pudding its creamy body and mild flavor.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the richness of the milk and yolks.
The step that matters
Let the mixture boil for ten minutes. Tapioca starch must reach a full boil to cook through and thicken properly. The egg yolks are also in the pot, and boiling them for too long or too hard can curdle them, so keep the heat controlled while the mixture 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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