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Dessert

Coconut Mousse

A chilled coconut mousse made with milk, cream, grated coconut, orange juice, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and coconut are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,648 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Coconut Mousse

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water and dissolve it in the boiling milk.

  2. When the mixture is cool, add the grated coconut, orange juice, and whipped cream.

Freeze

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold or freezer-safe container.

  2. Pack the container in salt and ice and freeze for 4 hours.

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 + coconuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Coconut + orangetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together584 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Cream + coconuttop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,223 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a light, spoonable structure as it cools and freezes.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, airy texture when whipped into the mixture.
Grated coconut
Contributes coconut flavour and a slightly textured body to the mousse.
Orange juice
Adds acidity and fresh citrus aroma that balances the richness.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the gelatine dissolves into.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture before adding the cream. Hot liquid melts and deflates whipped cream, losing the air that gives mousse its lightness. Cooling the gelatine mixture first lets it thicken slightly while staying fluid enough to fold in evenly.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cream, coconut):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Bananafits better
  3. Pineapplefits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, coconut. 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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