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Dessert

Macaroon Ginger Custard

A custard made with scalded milk, eggs, sugar, dried macaroons, and preserved ginger, topped with a browned meringue.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Norton, Caroline Trask · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and egg 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 ↓

Macaroon Ginger Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat 2 cups of scalded milk.

  2. Beat 3 eggs.

  3. Take 6 dried macaroons, roll them, and mix with 3 tablespoonfuls of fine sugar and a speck of salt.

  4. Add the macaroons to the hot milk.

  5. Then add the slightly beaten eggs, sugar, and salt.

  6. Bake, setting the dish in a pan of hot water.

  7. When firm, remove from the fire and cover with thin slices of preserved ginger.

Top and serve

  1. Make a meringue from the whites of two eggs and two tablespoonfuls of sugar.

  2. Brown the meringue in the oven for a few minutes.

  3. Serve cold.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

276Calories
14 gProtein
13 gFat
25 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. See the original page.

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

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

  2. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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
Set the custard as they cook, giving it a firm, sliceable body.
Macaroons
Add almond and sugar flavour and body to the hot milk base.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs set into a custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and the meringue topping.

The step that matters

Baking in a water bath. Setting the dish in hot water lets the custard heat gently, so the eggs set smoothly instead of curdling or becoming rubbery. Remove it once it is just firm, since residual heat keeps cooking it.

“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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