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 ↓
French Custards or Creams
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Add the yolks of twelve fresh eggs to a quart of new milk, and mix with equal parts of milk and cream of ten only.
Add six to eight ounces of sugar to sweeten the custard, then boil gently in the milk with a grain or two of salt, stirring briskly into the eggs as soon as it is taken from the fire.
If using vanilla, cut half a pod into short lengths, bruise well, let the milk stand some time by the fire before or after boiling, strain through muslin, then add to the eggs.
Infuse a few petals of fresh orange blossoms in the milk for a more agreeable flavour.
Bake and serve
Butter a round deep dish, pour in the custard, and place it in a pan of water at the point of boiling, ensuring it does not reach within an inch of the edge; let it just simmer for an hour to an hour and a half until firm in the middle.
Keep a few live embers on the lid of the stewpan to prevent steam from falling into the custard.
If no suitable form is available, use a charcoal fire, lay an oven-leaf or tin over the pan, and place the embers in the centre.
Serve the custard cold, with chopped macaroons or ratafias laid thickly around the edge to form a one-inch border.
Small cups
For small china cups, add one egg yolk and enough milk or cream to nearly fill, sweeten, and simmer in a water bath until set.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Eggs | 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.
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 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).
Sugar and milk 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
- Yolks set the custard into a firm, sliceable structure as they cook.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base that the egg proteins set within, giving a soft, smooth body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Simmering the custard gently. Egg proteins set into a smooth, firm custard only at gentle heat. Boiling or steam dropping onto the surface can cause curdling, weeping, or a pitted texture.
“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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