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 ↓
Boiled Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a double boiler.
In a bowl, thoroughly mix the egg yolks and sugar.
Pour the hot milk over the egg mixture and stir well.
Return the mixture to the double boiler and heat until it thickens, stirring constantly.
Finish and serve
If the custard curdles, remove from heat and beat or stir vigorously.
Cool and add flavoring before serving.
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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, giving it body and richness.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the egg yolks thicken into a smooth custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps keep the yolks from scrambling as they heat.
The step that matters
Return the mixture to the double boiler and heat until it thickens, stirring constantly.. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat, but if they get too hot they scramble and curdle. Constant stirring and the indirect heat of a double boiler keep the custard 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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