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Caramel Custard

A custard dessert made with milk, sugar, eggs, corn starch, and caramelized brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Caramel Custard

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Caramel Custard

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine milk, white sugar, and salt in a saucepan; heat over medium heat.

  2. Beat the eggs in a bowl without separating them.

  3. Wet the corn starch with a little cold milk.

  4. Heat brown sugar in a separate pan until scorched but not burned.

  5. Pour the hot milk mixture onto the beaten eggs, stirring constantly.

  6. Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir in the corn starch until thickened.

  7. Stir in the scorched brown sugar and remove from heat.

  8. Add vanilla to taste.

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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla 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
Set the custard as they cook, giving it body and a rich, tender texture.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk mixture so the custard becomes smooth and spoonable.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the other ingredients.
Brown sugar
Scorched until dark, it adds a caramel flavour and colour to the custard.

The step that matters

Pour the hot milk mixture onto the beaten eggs, stirring constantly. Adding hot liquid to eggs too quickly can scramble them. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly so the eggs warm gently and blend smoothly into the custard.

“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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