Why it works: Sugar and red currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,156 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Tapioca Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the tapioca in cold water overnight.
Cook and set
In the morning, cook the soaked tapioca in a double saucepan for one hour, stirring frequently.
Once cooked, add the sugar, salt, and fruit jelly, mixing thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into a mold and let it cool.
Serve
Serve with cream and castor sugar.
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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Sugar + red curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tapioca
- Its starch thickens with heat and sets as the pudding cools, giving it body.
- Fruit jelly
- Adds sweetness, acidity and flavour, and colours the pudding.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and softens its set texture.
The step that matters
Cooking the soaked tapioca. Tapioca must be cooked long enough for its starch granules to swell fully and turn translucent. Stirring often in a double saucepan keeps the mixture from scorching and thickening unevenly.
“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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