Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Tapioca Cream Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Boil the milk in a saucepan.
Stir in the soaked tapioca and boil for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Finish the thickening
Dissolve the cornstarch in ½ cup of milk.
Add the dissolved cornstarch and beaten egg yolk to the tapioca mixture, stirring well.
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Tapioca
- Swells in the hot milk and thickens it as it cooks, giving the pudding its body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the starches swell in and set into a creamy pudding.
- Cornstarch
- Adds extra thickening so the pudding sets smoothly.
- Egg yolk
- Thickens with heat and adds richness and a custard-like texture.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolk and cornstarch. Egg yolk can scramble and turn grainy if it meets very hot liquid without enough stirring. Stirring well while adding it keeps the pudding smooth and evenly thickened.
“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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