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Dessert

Custard in Pastry or Kentish Pudding Pie

A custard made with milk, sugar, butter and custard powder, poured into a baked puff pastry case and browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By T. R. Allinson · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Wheat and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 537 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Custard in Pastry or Kentish Pudding Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the case

  1. Line a pie-dish with puff paste, prick well with a fork and bake carefully.

Make the custard

  1. Mix 1 dessertspoonful of flour with the contents of a packet of Allinson custard powder.

  2. Out of a pint of milk, take 8 tablespoonfuls and mix well with the flour and custard powder, etc.

  3. Boil the remainder of the milk with sugar to taste and 1 oz. of butter.

  4. When quite boiling, pour on to the custard powder and stir quickly for a minute.

  5. Pour into the pastry case.

Bake and serve

  1. Grate a little nutmeg on the top and bake till golden brown.

  2. Serve hot or cold.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

688Calories
27 gProtein
14 gFat
110 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Wheatnot in our table0

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

By T. R. Allinson. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Wheat + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together537 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,418 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Wheat + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,373 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Not stated in the record.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the custard powder and flour thicken into a smooth filling.
Flour
Adds starch that thickens the custard so it holds its shape when sliced.
Custard powder (in the method)
Supplies starch that thickens the boiled milk into a set, creamy custard.
Butter (in the method)
Adds fat that enriches the custard and gives a softer, richer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Pour the boiling milk onto the custard powder and stir quickly. Starch clumps when it meets hot liquid unless it is well dispersed. Stirring quickly while the mixture is at the boil spreads the starch evenly so it thickens smoothly without lumps.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, wheat, flour, egg):

  1. Cinnamonthe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Turmericfits less well
  4. Jalapenofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, wheat, flour, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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