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Dessert

Cocoa-nut Pudding No I

A baked pudding made with grated cocoa-nut, milk, eggs, sugar, butter, rose-water, and pie-crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cocoa-nut Pudding No I

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the custard

  1. Boil the milk and pour it over the grated cocoa-nut.

  2. Beat the sugar with the eggs until well combined.

  3. Add the milk and cocoa-nut mixture to the egg and sugar mixture.

  4. Stir in the salt and rose-water.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered dish lined with pie-crust.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 30 minutes.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Cocoa + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together643 recipes

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

  3. Cocoa + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together548 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-undecalactone (coconut, creamy).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and adds moisture and richness.
Grated cocoa-nut
Adds flavor and texture, and its fat and fiber add body to the custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
Butter
Greases the dish and adds fat for flavor and a tender texture.
Flaky pie-crust
Forms a base layer that holds the custard while it bakes.

The step that matters

Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 to 30 minutes. Eggs set as they heat, so overbaking can make the custard curdle, weep, or turn rubbery. Check for a set centre at the shorter end of the time range.

Swap the cocoa

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

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pecansfits better
  3. Pistachiofits about as well
  4. Cocoathe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, butter, rose. 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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