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Dessert

Boiled Custard

A custard made by simmering milk with flavorings, sugar, and eggs, then thickened over low heat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Boiled Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rinse a pan with cold water.

  2. Add the milk and flavorings to the pan and simmer until flavored.

  3. Stir in the sugar.

Make the custard

  1. Strain the mixture over the eggs while stirring continuously.

  2. Return the mixture to the pan and stir over low heat until it thickens.

  3. For best results, place the egg and milk mixture in a jug and cook it in a pan of hot water until thickened.

  4. Stir in the cream about five minutes before the custard is allowed to cool.

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

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

  4. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, giving it body and richness.
Egg white
Adds protein that helps the custard set and gives a light body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into a custard.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the flavor of the milk and eggs.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel to the finished custard.

The step that matters

Thicken over low heat. Egg proteins set at a fairly low temperature, and too much heat can scramble the eggs into lumps. Stirring gently over low heat, or cooking in a jug set in hot water, keeps the custard smooth as 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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