Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Pineapple Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a pan, combine the butter and milk, and bring to a boil.
Sift in the flour, boil briefly, and beat until smooth.
Add the sugar, 2 tablespoons of pineapple juice, and the egg yolks.
Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the mixture.
Assemble and steam
Butter a mold and line it with thick slices of pineapple and a few candied cherries.
Pour the mixture into the mold, cover with buttered paper, and place in a water bath.
Simmer slowly for 30 to 40 minutes.
Serve
Remove from water, let stand for a minute, then turn out and 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.
-
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + pineappletop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together885 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
-
Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Egg whites whipped to stiff peaks lighten the pudding and give it a set, airy structure.
- Flour
- Cooked into the milk and butter, it thickens the batter so it holds its shape when set.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the pudding a smooth, tender texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that cooks with the flour into a thick, smooth batter.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the flavor of the pineapple.
The step that matters
Folding the whipped egg whites. Stiff whites hold the air that lightens the pudding. Folding gently keeps that air in, while stirring hard would deflate it and leave a dense result.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, butter, sugar, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, butter, sugar, milk. 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.
More pineapple pudding recipes
You might also like
Pineapple Sherbet116 recipes
Pineapple Cream58 recipes
Pineapple Jelly39 recipes
Pineapple Sponge Cake38 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.