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Dessert

Spanish Custard

A custard made with egg yolks, egg whites, cream, sugar, gelatin, and flavored with essence, wine, or preserved citrus peel.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Spanish Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatin

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water.

  2. Dissolve it in boiling water.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks, sugar, and salt together.

  2. Scald the cream.

  3. Pour it over the egg and sugar mixture.

  4. Return to a double boiler and cook until it thickens.

  5. Add the dissolved gelatin and beaten egg whites.

  6. Remove from heat.

  7. Flavor with essence, wine, or preserved orange or lemon peel.

Mold and set

  1. Mold the mixture.

  2. Refrigerate until set.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Cream + winetop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  4. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Sugar + winetop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together9,581 recipes

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

Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Gelatine
Provides the gel structure that lets the flan set firm yet tender when chilled.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
Egg whites
Add airy lightness to the mixture, giving it a softer, lighter body.
Thin cream
Adds fat and moisture, giving the flan a smooth, rich texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps soften the set texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard in the double boiler. Egg yolks thicken gently at low, steady heat. If the custard gets too hot it can curdle or scramble, so it must be stirred and watched until it thickens.

“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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