Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Tapioca Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the tapioca
Pick over the tapioca and place it in the top of a double boiler.
Cover the tapioca with boiling water.
Add the milk as soon as the water is absorbed.
Cook until the tapioca is soft and clear.
Make the custard
Beat the egg yolks, then add the salt, sugar, and hot milk to the yolks.
Cook until it thickens like soft custard.
Remove from heat and fold in the beaten egg whites.
Flavor when cold.
Top and brown
Optionally, mix the egg whites with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar.
Place the mixture on top of the pudding.
Brown in the oven for a few 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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Vanilla and sugar 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
- Pearl tapioca
- Swells in boiling water and sets into the soft, clear body of the pudding.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the tapioca cooks in and the custard is made from.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat and add richness.
- Egg whites
- Folded in whipped form for lightness, and whipped with sugar for the browned topping.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps give the topping a browned finish.
The step that matters
Cook the custard gently. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with heat. If the heat is too high or the cooking runs too long, they can curdle or scramble, leaving the pudding grainy instead of smooth.
“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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