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Dessert

Tapioca Pudding

A baked dessert made from tapioca, eggs, sugar, butter, sweet milk, spices, vanilla, and a meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Tapioca Pudding

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 ↓

Tapioca Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Wash the tapioca in three changes of water, then soak for 2-3 hours.

  2. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).

  3. Separate the eggs, reserving 2 whites for the meringue.

  4. Beat the yolks and whites separately.

  5. Cream the butter and sugar together.

Bake the pudding

  1. Mix all ingredients well and pour into a baking pan.

  2. Bake slowly until done.

Make and brown the meringue

  1. Make a meringue with the reserved egg whites and 2 tablespoons of sugar.

  2. Return the meringue to the oven and brown it slightly.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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
Starch that swells in liquid and thickens the pudding as it bakes.
Eggs
Set the custard as they cook and add richness and structure.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the meringue brown.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Sweet milk
Provides the liquid that the tapioca absorbs and the eggs set in.

The step that matters

Bake slowly until done. Egg proteins set at moderate temperatures; a slow bake lets the custard firm evenly without curdling, weeping or turning rubbery.

“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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