Name: Cocoanut Cheesecakes
Ingredients: 3 tablespoons milk; 4 tablespoons desiccated coconut; 1 whole egg; 1 egg yolk; 1 ounce caster sugar; a pinch of salt; a little nutmeg

Why it works: Coconut and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 411 recipes. Both carry beta-pinene, which smells pine, resin. The science ↓

Cocoanut Cheesecakes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

Soak the coconut in the milk.
Add the sugar, beaten egg, and nutmeg to the soaked coconut.
Line patty tins with flaky pastry.
Place a good teaspoonful of the mixture in each tin.

Bake

Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 20 minutes.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Coconut + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together411 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).
Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,648 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together14,685 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together24,744 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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

Desiccated coconut: Forms the bulk of the filling and gives it a chewy, moist texture.
Whole egg: Binds the mixture and helps it set as it bakes.
Egg yolk: Adds richness and helps the filling set smooth and tender.
Caster sugar: Sweetens the filling and promotes browning on the surface.