Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Pineapple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pineapple base
Dissolve the gelatine in ½ cup of water over low heat.
Add the grated pineapple, sugar, and lemon juice, and cook until smooth.
Remove from heat and stir constantly until it begins to congeal.
Set and serve
Fold in the whipped cream and stir thoroughly.
Pour into molds and refrigerate until set.
Serve cold with additional whipped cream and candied cherries.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Pineapple + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Pineapple + creamtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,574 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable pudding as it cools.
- Grated pineapple
- Supplies the main fruit flavour and moisture to the pudding.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the tartness of the pineapple and lemon.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweet pineapple flavour.
- Whipped cream
- Adds richness and a light, airy texture to the set pudding.
The step that matters
Stir while the mixture begins to congeal. Gelatine starts to set as it cools, so stirring constantly keeps the mixture smooth and evenly textured. If it sets unevenly, the pudding can be lumpy or grainy, and folding in the cream becomes harder.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pineapple, sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Bananafits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pineapple, sugar, 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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