Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Pineapple Pudding
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.
Prepare the pineapple
Peel the pineapple and remove all specks.
Grate the pineapple.
Weigh the grated pineapple and use the same weight in sugar and half that weight in butter.
Mix the filling
Cream the sugar and butter together.
Stir the creamed mixture into the grated pineapple.
Add the eggs and cream, mixing well.
Bake
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) with or without a crust.
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 + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Pineapple + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pineapple
- Provides the main flavour and moisture, and its acidity brightens the sweet custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the pudding and helps it brown slightly as it bakes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a tender texture.
- Eggs
- Set during baking to bind the mixture into a soft, sliceable pudding.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, making the set custard smoother and richer.
The step that matters
Removing all specks from the pineapple. Any dark specks left in the peel will show in the finished pudding and add a bitter, woody taste. Cutting them out fully keeps the fruit flavour clean and the texture even.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, egg, cream. 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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