Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Caramel Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Combine milk, white sugar, and salt in a double boiler over heat.
Beat the eggs together in a large bowl.
Wet the cornstarch with a little cold milk.
Pour the scalding milk mixture onto the eggs.
Return the mixture to heat.
Stir in the cornstarch until the mixture thickens and coats the spoon.
Finish and cool
Add the scorched brown sugar.
Remove from heat.
Let the custard cool.
Stir in the vanilla.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving it body and a thick, creamy structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the sweetness and richness.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the custard so it coats the spoon as the mixture heats.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and a deep caramel flavor when scorched into the custard.
The step that matters
Stirring in the cornstarch. Cornstarch must be wet first and the mixture kept heated while stirring so the starch granules swell and thicken evenly. Added dry or left unstirred, it clumps and leaves the custard lumpy or thin.
“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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