Why it works: Pineapple and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 911 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Cabinet 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
Butter a 1 quart pudding mould.
Cut the bread into slices ½ inch thick, then cut 30 round pieces 1 inch in diameter.
Soak the bread pieces in a custard made from 2 beaten eggs, 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, and ½ cup cream for 10 minutes.
Chop 6 slices of candied pineapple and a number of nutmeats very fine, then mix them together.
Assemble and bake
Layer the soaked bread and pineapple mixture in the mould, finishing with a layer of bread.
Fill the mould to the top of the bread with uncooked vanilla custard.
Place the mould in a pan filled with water halfway up the sides and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.
Serve
Turn out onto a hot dish and serve with hot pineapple sauce.
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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Pineapple + vanillatop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together911 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Bread
- Forms the body of the pudding and soaks up the custard to set into a soft, sliceable texture.
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its firm yet tender structure.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture to the custard, keeping the pudding tender.
- Candied pineapple
- Adds sweetness and a chewy, fruity flavour that contrasts with the custard.
The step that matters
Baking in a water bath. Setting the pan in water halfway up its sides moderates the oven heat, so the custard cooks gently and sets smoothly instead of curdling or becoming rough and porous.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, egg, sugar, cream, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, egg, sugar, cream, vanilla. 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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