Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cocoa-nut Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the mixture
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Mix the eggs, new milk, and cocoa-nut milk together.
Grate the white part of the cocoa-nut and add it to the mixture.
Stir in the bread crumbs, sugar, butter, raisins, and lemon rind.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a well-buttered pie dish.
Bake for 1.5 hours or until set.
Serve with sifted sugar sprinkled on top.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Milk + cocoatop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together643 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving the pudding its structure and body.
- Bread crumbs
- Soak up the liquid and help give the pudding a soft, cake-like body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, contributing to a tender texture and flavour.
- Cocoa-nut milk
- Provides moisture and a sweet, rich coconut flavour.
- Muscatel raisins
- Add concentrated sweetness and chewy texture throughout the pudding.
The step that matters
Bake until just set. Eggs set as they heat, so underbaking leaves the custard runny while overbaking makes it dry and rubbery. Check for a firm centre rather than relying only on the timer.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, cocoa, bread, sugar, butter, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Coconutfits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, cocoa, bread, sugar, butter, 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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