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Cocoanut Custard Pie

A custard pie with coconut, baked with a meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and coconut match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,294 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Cocoanut Custard Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the custard

  1. Separate 2 egg whites from the 3 eggs and place in a bowl.

  2. In another bowl, beat the remaining whole egg and 2 yolks until mixed.

  3. Add the milk, vanilla, sugar, and coconut to the egg mixture and combine well.

  4. Pour the mixture into a lined pie pan that has been floured.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for 8 to 10 minutes.

  2. Reduce the heat to 350°F (175°C) and bake until the custard is set and firm.

  3. Remove from the oven and spread the meringue made from the 2 egg whites on top.

  4. Return to the oven and bake until the meringue is set and lightly browned, about 12 minutes at 300°F (150°C).

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.

  1. Vanilla + coconuttop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Milk + coconuttop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,648 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Yolks and whites set the custard and build the structure of the pie.
Milk
Provides liquid and richness that gives the custard its smooth, tender body.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the meringue hold its shape and brown lightly.
Shredded coconut
Adds chewy texture and toasty coconut flavor to the custard.

The step that matters

Baking the custard at the right temperature. Eggs set when heated gently; too hot an oven makes the custard curdle, weep, or puff and crack. Baking until just set keeps it smooth and firm.

Swap the coconut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, vanilla, milk, sugar):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits about as well
  3. Blueberryfits about as well
  4. Coconutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, vanilla, milk, 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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