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Dessert

Pineapple Pudding

A chilled custard made with scalded cream, corn starch, sugar, salt, egg whites, cold milk, and grated pineapple.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Pineapple Pudding

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Pineapple Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a double boiler, mix corn starch, sugar, salt, and cold milk until well combined.

  2. Add the mixture to the scalded cream, stirring constantly until it thickens, about 10 to 15 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and fold in the beaten egg whites and grated pineapple.

Chill and serve

  1. Mold the mixture and let it congeal in the refrigerator.

  2. Serve chilled with whipped cream.

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.

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.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  3. Pineapple + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together885 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Corn + pineappletop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together150 recipes

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

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Corn starch
Thickens the cream mixture as it heats, giving the pudding its body.
Eggs
Whites beaten stiff add airy lightness to the pudding.
Scalded cream
Provides richness and fat, giving the pudding a smooth, soft texture.
Grated pineapple
Adds fruity flavor and moisture to the pudding.

The step that matters

Stirring while the mixture thickens. Starch can clump or scorch on the bottom if it is not stirred constantly while heating. Constant stirring keeps the starch dispersed so the custard thickens smoothly.

Swap the pineapple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, corn, egg, milk. 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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