Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
French Tapioca Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pudding
Boil the tapioca in the water until it begins to swell.
Gradually add the milk and boil until the tapioca is very thick.
Stir in the beaten egg, sugar, and flavouring.
Bake
Bake gently for 45 minutes.
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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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).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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 de la couronne
- Swells in liquid and thickens the pudding as it boils.
- Milk
- Adds richness and body, softening the texture of the pudding.
- Egg
- Sets during baking, giving the pudding structure and a custard-like body.
The step that matters
Boil until the tapioca is very thick. Tapioca thickens as its starch swells and gelatinises with heat. If it is not cooked long enough, the pudding stays thin and the starch may taste raw.
“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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