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Dessert

Cocoaimt Cracker Pudding

A pudding made from crackers, milk, eggs, sugar, coconut, and butter, baked and frosted with beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cocoaimt Cracker Pudding

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Roll the crackers finely.

  2. Heat the milk to a scald and soak the crackers in it.

Make the pudding

  1. Beat the egg yolks with sugar and salt.

  2. Mix the soaked crackers with the egg mixture, then add coconut and butter.

Bake and frost

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C).

  2. Frost with beaten egg whites and brown.

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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  3. Coconut + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Crackers
Provide the bulk and starch that thicken the pudding as they soak and absorb the milk.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that softens the crackers and sets into a custard-like texture.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help the pudding set into a tender, custard-like texture when baked.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the egg yolks and milk bake into a smooth texture.
Coconut
Adds flavor and a chewy texture to the pudding.
Egg whites
Whipped and spread on top, they form a light topping that browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Bake and brown the frosting. Egg whites must be beaten to stiff peaks before spreading, since unbeaten whites will not hold shape or brown evenly. Baking too long can cause the pudding to curdle or dry out.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Coconutthe original
  4. Peachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, butter. 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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