Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Pine-Apple Cream
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Macerate the pineapple
Peel the pineapple and cut it into very thin slices.
Sprinkle the sugar between the slices and cover them.
Set the covered pineapple in a cool place for 2 to 3 hours.
Chop the fruit in the syrup with a silver knife.
Strain the mixture through a coarse cloth.
Make the cream
Put the juice in the ice chest with the cream and egg whites until very cold.
Gradually beat the juice into the cream while keeping it in a vessel of ice water.
Stir in the whipped egg whites.
Beat everything to a good froth.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Cream + pineappletop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,574 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Sweet cream
- Provides the rich fat and body that the froth is built on.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to add lightness and airy volume to the finished cream.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the fruit and draws out its syrup while it rests.
- Ripe pineapple
- Supplies the main flavor and juice for the cream.
The step that matters
Keep the juice and cream very cold while beating. Cold cream holds air better, so chilling the juice and cream over ice water helps the froth stay stable instead of collapsing or turning thin.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, egg. 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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