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Petits Choux Aux Feuits

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Petits Choux Aux Feuits

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

  1. In a saucepan, combine butter and boiling water. Heat until boiling.

  2. Add flour all at once and stir vigorously. Remove from heat.

  3. Add unbeaten eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

  4. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a buttered baking sheet, spacing them 1.5 inches apart.

  5. Shape each mound slightly higher in the center. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.

  6. Cool, then split each choux and fill with the pineapple mixture.

  7. To make the filling, heat shredded pineapple until boiling, then stir in cornstarch mixed with cold water.

  8. Boil for three minutes, then add a pinch of salt.

  9. For the frosting, melt chocolate over hot water, then stir in butter and boiling water.

  10. Add confectioners' sugar until the desired consistency is reached, then flavor with vanilla.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla 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

Swap the pineapple

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, chocolate, sugar, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

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