Why it works: Milk and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Tapioca Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak 4 tablespoons of tapioca in 1 quart of milk overnight.
Add 1 tablespoon of brandy, 1 teaspoon of lemon peel, and 1/4 teaspoon of spice to the mixture.
Cook and bake
Boil gently, then add 4 eggs (yolks and beaten whites) and 1/4 pound of sugar.
Bake until set.
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 + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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 in the milk and thickens the pudding as it cooks.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to give the pudding its custard structure and body.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the tapioca absorbs and the custard base.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and adds to its soft, tender texture.
The step that matters
Boil gently. Tapioca needs to cook through in the milk before the eggs go in. Gentle heat keeps the milk from scorching and the eggs from curdling when they are added.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, brandy, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Apricotfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, brandy, egg, sugar. 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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