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Pineapple Bisque

A chilled pineapple custard dessert with macaroons and brandy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 Bisque

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the cream in a farina kettle.

  2. Beat the egg yolks with the powdered sugar until light and fluffy.

  3. Gradually add the heated cream to the egg mixture, then return to the kettle.

  4. Boil the mixture until thick like custard, stirring constantly.

  5. Remove from heat and stir until cool.

Freeze and finish

  1. When ready to freeze, add the grated pineapple and crushed macaroons.

  2. Partially freeze, then stir in the brandy.

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

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

  2. Pineapple + brandytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together298 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  5. Sugar + pineappletop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,841 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

Cream
Provides richness and fat, giving the bisque a smooth, creamy body.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard base as they set with gentle heat, and add richness.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens the base and dissolves easily into the beaten yolks.
Pineapple
Adds fruity flavor and acidity that brightens the sweet custard.
Macaroons
Add texture and a toasty almond flavor to the frozen custard.
Brandy
Adds aroma and flavor, and lowers the freezing point so the bisque stays softer.

The step that matters

Boil the mixture until thick like custard, stirring constantly.. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overheating or uneven heat can scramble them into lumps. Constant stirring keeps the custard smooth and evenly thickened.

Swap the pineapple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Raspberryfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

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