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Dessert

Cocoanut Cream Pie

A pie filled with coconut custard topped with meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Coconut and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cocoanut Cream Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Mix egg yolks, ⅓ cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl.

  2. Pour scalded milk into the mixture.

  3. Return the mixture to a double boiler and cook until thickened.

  4. Stir in butter, shredded coconut, and vanilla extract.

Fill and top the pie

  1. Pour the filling into a pie crust and bake until set.

  2. Beat egg whites until stiff, then gradually add 3 tablespoons sugar, continuing to beat.

  3. Spread meringue over the pie, sprinkle with shredded coconut, and brown in the oven.

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.

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. Coconut + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they set with heat.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk mixture into a sliceable custard when cooked.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff meringue that forms the pie's airy topping.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, which thickens as it cooks.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and stabilizes the whipped egg white meringue.
Shredded coconut
Adds coconut flavor and chewy texture to the filling and topping.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard until thickened. Cornstarch must be fully heated to swell and thicken the milk; undercooked custard stays runny and won't slice. Egg yolks also need gentle heat in a double boiler to thicken without curdling or scrambling.

Swap the coconut

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

  1. Figfits about as well
  2. Peachfits about as well
  3. Coconutthe original
  4. Strawberryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, sugar, vanilla, egg. 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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