Why it works: Milk and egg 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 Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the tapioca in cold water overnight.
Make the pudding
In a saucepan, combine soaked tapioca, sugar, and milk.
Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently until thickened.
Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, then temper them with a bit of the hot mixture.
Stir the tempered eggs back into the pudding and cook for a few more minutes.
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk 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
- Swells during soaking and thickens the pudding as it cooks, giving it body.
- Eggs
- Thicken the pudding further and add richness when gently cooked.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and creamy flavour of the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and adds to its smooth texture.
The step that matters
Tempering the eggs. Adding raw eggs directly to hot liquid can scramble them. Whisking in a little hot mixture first gradually raises their temperature, so they blend in smoothly when stirred back into the pudding.
“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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