Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Pineapple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Scald 2 cups of milk and add ½ teaspoon of salt.
In a separate bowl, combine ½ cup of cold milk with ½ cup of corn starch until smooth.
Gradually add the corn starch mixture to the scalded milk, stirring constantly until thickened.
Remove from heat and fold in 3 beaten egg whites and ¾ cup of sugar.
Mold and serve
Add the finely chopped pineapple just before molding.
Pour the mixture into small fancy molds that have been dipped in cold water and chill until set.
Serve each mold on a circle of canned pineapple, optionally drizzling with thickened pineapple juice or whipped cream.
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 + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Milk + pineappletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together885 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Pineapple + corntop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together150 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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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
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk into a smooth, sliceable set custard.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and lightness to the set pudding when beaten and folded in.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base that the starch thickens.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and balances the pineapple's tartness.
The step that matters
Stirring the corn starch mixture into the scalded milk. Starch clumps if added in one go or left unstirred. Adding it gradually while stirring constantly keeps it dispersed so the custard thickens evenly and smoothly.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, corn, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, corn, egg, sugar. 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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