Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Pine-apple Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.
Make the filling
Add the beaten egg yolks, then mix in the grated pineapple and sweet cream.
Gently fold in the whipped egg whites.
Remove the sections from the pineapple with a steel fork, cut off the blossom, and chop them finely.
Add the chopped pineapple to the grated core.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake with an under crust only.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Butter + pineappletop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,134 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind the filling, while whipped whites add lightness and lift.
- Butter
- Fat that adds richness and a tender, smooth texture to the filling.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps create a creamy base when beaten with butter.
- Sweet cream
- Adds moisture and richness, giving the filling a softer, silkier texture.
- Pineapple
- Provides moisture, fruity aroma, and a bright acidity that balances the sweetness.
The step that matters
Gently fold in the whipped egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that gives the filling lift. Stirring hard or too long deflates the foam, leaving a denser, flatter pie.
Swap the pineapple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, butter, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Pineapplethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, cream. 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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