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 ↓
Baked Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Scald the milk.
Beat the yolks with the sugar and add to the milk.
Stir in the beaten egg whites.
Flavor to taste.
Bake and serve
Pour into cups and bake until firm.
Serve cold from the cups.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Proteins set as the custard bakes, giving it a firm, sliceable structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that gives the custard its body and moist texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the eggy flavor.
The step that matters
Pour into cups and bake until firm.. Egg proteins set as the custard heats. Once they have set, more heat squeezes out liquid and makes the texture grainy. Remove it when just firm so it stays smooth.
“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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