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Pineapple Pudding

A custard-like pudding made with scalded cream, corn starch, pineapple, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Pineapple Pudding

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Pineapple Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Mix corn starch, sugar, salt, and cold milk in a bowl.

  2. Add the mixture to the scalded cream in a double boiler, stirring constantly until thickened, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites and grated pineapple.

  2. Mold the mixture, let it congeal, and serve with whipped cream.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Pineapple + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together885 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Corn + pineappletop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together150 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Corn starch
Thickens the cream mixture into a smooth, set custard as it heats.
Scalded cream
Provides richness and fat, giving the pudding a creamy texture.
Egg whites
Beaten and folded in to add lightness and airy structure.
Grated pineapple
Adds fruity flavor and acidity that brightens the sweet custard.

The step that matters

Stirring the starch mixture in the double boiler. Corn starch thickens only when heated while stirred; stirring constantly prevents lumps and scorching, and the mixture must reach a full thickened state before cooling so it sets properly.

Swap the pineapple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, corn, egg, milk):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, corn, egg, milk. 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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