Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Custards
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the custard
Combine the eggs and milk in a double boiler.
Stir constantly while cooking until thickened to the consistency of heavy cream.
For stiff custards, use 3 whole eggs or 5 yolks with 1 pint of milk.
Bake
Bake in greased molds surrounded by water until firm.
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.
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Proteins set on gentle heat, thickening the milk and giving the custard its firm structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the egg proteins thicken and set into a smooth, creamy texture.
The step that matters
Stir constantly while cooking. Egg proteins begin to set as the mixture heats. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and keeps the custard smooth rather than letting it curdle or scramble on the hot base of the pan.
“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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