Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Tapioca Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Wash and soak the tapioca in water until soft.
Add salt and milk, then heat in a double boiler or saucepan set in hot water until just boiling.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks and sugar, and cook for a few minutes.
Transfer to an earthen dish and let cool.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites until stiff, then mix in the sugar and flavoring if desired.
Spread the egg white mixture over the cooled tapioca and place in the oven to brown slightly.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, 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
What each ingredient does
- Tapioca
- Swells when soaked and thickens the milk as it cooks, giving the pudding its body.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help thicken it as they cook with the milk.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff foam that forms a light topping which browns in the oven.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the tapioca cooks in, adding richness and creaminess.
The step that matters
Cook the egg yolks gently. Egg yolks can scramble or curdle if they meet very hot liquid too quickly. Cooking gently over moderate heat lets them thicken the pudding smoothly.
“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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