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 ↓
Cornstarch Meringue
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Heat a quart of milk until it boils.
Add four heaping teaspoonfuls of cornstarch that has previously been dissolved in a little cold milk.
Stir constantly while boiling for fifteen minutes, then remove from the fire.
Gradually add the yolks of five eggs, beaten together with three-fourths of a cupful of sugar and flavored with lemon, vanilla or bitter almond, while the mixture is hot.
Bake and finish
Bake this mixture for fifteen minutes in a well-buttered pudding dish or until it begins to set.
Make a meringue of the whites of five eggs, whipped stiff with a half cupful of jelly.
Spread the meringue evenly over the custard, without removing it farther than the edge of the oven.
Use currant jelly if vanilla is used in the custard, crab apple for bitter almond, and strawberry for lemon.
Cover and bake for five minutes.
Take off the lid and brown the meringue a very little.
To be eaten cold.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + eggtop 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
- Milk
- Forms the body of the custard and sets with the cornstarch to give it a creamy texture.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the boiling milk into a smooth custard that holds its shape when cooled.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and help set the custard, while whipped whites give the meringue its light structure.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue brown lightly in the oven.
- Jelly
- Sweetens and flavors the meringue, with its fruit choice matched to the custard flavoring.
The step that matters
Stir constantly while the custard boils. Cornstarch must boil to reach full thickening power. Constant stirring keeps the starch evenly dispersed and prevents lumps and scorching on the base of the pan.
“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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