Why it works: Butter and coconut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,467 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cocoanut Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the filling
In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter.
Add the grated coconut and flour, mixing well.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Gently fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.
Bake
Pour the filling into the pie crust.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden.
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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Butter + coconuttop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,467 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Coconut + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,315 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the filling brown as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, creaming with sugar to give the filling a tender texture.
- Grated coconut
- Provides the main coconut flavor and bulk of the filling.
- Flour
- Thickens the filling slightly so it holds its shape when baked.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the filling and help it set with structure.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Whipped egg whites trap air that gives lift; stirring them vigorously deflates the foam, leaving a dense pie. Fold gently so the filling stays light.
Swap the coconut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg, butter, flour):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Coconutthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, butter, flour. 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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