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Dessert

2. Rennet Custard.

A chilled custard made by adding rennet to milk with sugar, vanilla, cocoa, and optional orange juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Helen Kinne and Anna M. Cooley · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cocoa work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 357 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

2. Rennet Custard.

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Add 1 quart milk, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, a shake of salt, flavoring (vanilla, orange juice, or cocoa), and 1 rennet tablet.

  2. Warm the mixture slightly, not more than 100°F.

  3. If using cocoa, dissolve it in a small amount of hot water.

  4. Dissolve the rennet in a tablespoonful of cold water, and stir this very thoroughly into the milk.

Set and chill

  1. Pour the milk into the cups in which the custard will be served, and set the cups in a warm but not hot place.

  2. Place the cups in a pan of warm water (100°F).

  3. Let the milk become firm in a half hour or an hour.

  4. As soon as it is set, put it in the ice box.

Serve

  1. Serve very cold with fruit on the top, or whipped cream with the cocoa flavoring; or put grated nutmeg or powdered cinnamon on the top. For children, flavor with fruit juice or vanilla rather than cocoa.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

365Calories
9 gProtein
17 gFat
42 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
Chocolate1 oz (28g) semisweet155
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Waternot 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 Helen Kinne and Anna M. Cooley. 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. Vanilla + cocoatop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together357 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Milk + cocoatop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together643 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

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

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

Milk
Forms the body of the custard, which sets into a soft, firm gel.
Rennet tablet
Enzyme that curdles the milk so it sets into a firm custard instead of staying liquid.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the flavor of the milk.
Cocoa
Adds chocolate flavor and color; dissolving it first helps it blend smoothly.

The step that matters

Stirring the dissolved rennet into the milk. Rennet must be mixed through the whole milk evenly; if it is poorly distributed, some areas set unevenly or not at all. Keeping the milk warm but not hot matters because the enzyme works best at mild warmth and high heat destroys its activity.

Swap the cocoa

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, vanilla):

  1. Chestnutfits about as well
  2. Cocoathe original
  3. Almondfits about as well
  4. Hazelnutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, vanilla. 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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