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Pineapple Macaroon Pudding

A custard pudding layered with macaroons and pineapple, topped with whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pineapple and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 911 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Pineapple Macaroon Pudding

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.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, combine the pineapple juice and water.

  2. Add the beaten egg yolks, cornstarch mixture, and vanilla; stir well.

  3. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook for 2-3 minutes.

Layer and bake

  1. In a pudding dish, layer macaroons, chopped pineapple, and sprinkle with sugar.

  2. Repeat the layers, finishing with a layer of macaroons and pineapple.

  3. Pour the custard over the layers.

  4. Beat the egg whites until stiff, adding a little sugar, and spread over the pudding.

  5. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for a few minutes, or use whipped cream instead of egg whites without baking.

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. Pineapple + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together911 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness to it.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard when it is brought to a boil.
Egg whites
Whip into a stiff topping that bakes to a light, set crust.
Macaroons
Form the crumbly, sweet layers that soak up the custard.

The step that matters

Bring the custard to a boil. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil, so stirring constantly while cooking prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pan.

Swap the pineapple

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Blueberryfits better
  3. Peachfits about as well
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vanilla, 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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