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 ↓
Tapioca Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding base
Boil the tapioca in the milk for 2 hours.
Add the butter (or cream), sugar, and ratafia cakes.
Beat well for 10 minutes.
Stir in the beaten eggs briskly.
Steam and serve
Butter a mold.
Pour in the pudding mixture.
Tie the mold with buttered writing paper.
Steam over boiling water for 1½ hours.
Turn out carefully.
Serve.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 cooks, giving the pudding its body and soft, chewy texture.
- Eggs
- Set when steamed, giving the pudding structure and richness.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the eggs and butter.
- Ratafia cakes
- Add a distinct almond-like aroma and flavor to the pudding.
The step that matters
Stir in the beaten eggs briskly. Adding eggs to hot mixture can scramble them into lumps. Brisk stirring disperses the eggs evenly so they set into a smooth custard-like texture when steamed.
“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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