Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cocoanut Pie
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 filling
In a bowl, combine grated cocoanut, sweet milk, egg yolks, salt, sugar, and melted butter.
Beat the mixture for five to six minutes until well combined.
Top and bake
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Spread the beaten egg whites over the top of the pie filling.
Bake until the top is slightly browned.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + eggtop 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).
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
- Grated cocoanut
- Provides the coconut flavor and body of the filling.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling as they set, giving it a custard-like structure.
- Sweet milk
- Supplies liquid and moisture that the eggs set into a creamy filling.
- Egg whites
- Beaten to stiff peaks, they form a light topping that browns in the oven.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture in the filling.
The step that matters
Spread the beaten egg whites over the top of the pie filling. Egg whites beaten to stiff peaks trap air and hold their shape; if they are under-beaten or deflated before spreading, the topping will not stay light and will bake flat and dense.
“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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