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 ↓
Custard Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Soak the tapioca in enough hot water to cover it until it absorbs the water.
Add the milk and cook until the tapioca is soft and transparent.
Stir in the egg yolk, sugar, and salt, and cook for three more minutes.
Remove from heat, then add the beaten egg white and flavoring.
Finish and serve
Let it cool before serving.
Optionally, use the egg white to make a meringue and brown it slightly in the oven.
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
- Thickens the milk as it softens and turns clear during cooking.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the tapioca thickens into a pudding.
- Egg yolk
- Adds richness and helps thicken the custard as it cooks.
- Egg white
- Adds lightness to the pudding and can be whipped into a meringue for browning.
The step that matters
Stirring in the egg yolk and cooking gently. Egg yolk can curdle or turn grainy if it overheats. Cooking it gently over moderate heat while stirring keeps the custard smooth and lightly thickened.
“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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