Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 Snow
Ingredients
Directions
Make the gelatin base
Soak the gelatine in cold water.
Add boiling water to dissolve the gelatine.
Stir in the pineapple juice and enough sugar to make it sweet.
Set aside to cool.
Fold and set
Whip the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff.
Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the cooled mixture until it holds its shape.
Pour into wet molds and refrigerate until firm.
Serve
Unmold and serve with whipped cream or soft custard.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,841 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).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Pineapple + creamtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,574 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the juice into a firm, sliceable gel as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they lighten the gelatin and give it a airy, fluffy texture.
- Pineapple juice
- Provides the main flavour and sweetness of the dessert.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whites hold air only while whipped; stirring them in vigorously deflates the foam. Fold gently, and only once the mixture has cooled enough that it will not melt the foam or start setting in lumps.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, cream. 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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