Why it works: Pineapple and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pine-apple Pudding-sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Grate the flesh of a ripe pineapple after removing the rind.
Simmer the grated pineapple with 2 tablespoons of water until tender.
Gradually mix in 4 oz of sugar.
Boil gently for 5 more minutes.
Serve on the pudding
Pour the sauce over the pudding.
Make the pineapple syrup
Simmer 12 oz of pineapple in its own juice with 1 tablespoon of water.
Mix with 7 oz of sifted sugar, then boil until clear.
Finish
If too sweet, stir in the juice of ½ lemon before serving.
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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Pineapple + lemontop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Pineapple + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,841 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Pineapple
- Supplies the main fruit flavour and liquid, softening as it simmers into a sauce.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps it thicken and turn glossy as it boils.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness; optional and added to taste.
The step that matters
Boil until clear. Stir the sugar in fully before boiling, since undissolved sugar can crystallise or stay grainy. Boiling too long darkens and over-thickens the sauce, so watch for clarity rather than relying only on a set time.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pineapple, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Bananafits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against pineapple, sugar. 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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