Skip to main content
Dessert

Lemon Custard

A sweet lemon custard made with lemon‑infused water, eggs, sugar, butter, and cornstarch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Lemon Custard

Why it works: Lemon and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Lemon Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the lemon water

  1. Slice the lemons and place them in the water.

  2. Boil until the lemon flavor is extracted, then remove and strain the water.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks, butter, and sugar together.

  2. Pour the strained water over the mixture and return to the heat.

  3. When it begins to boil, stir in the cornstarch.

  4. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them in after removing from heat.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
Egg yolks thicken and enrich the custard, while beaten whites add lightness.
Cornstarch
Starch swells when heated with liquid, thickening the custard to a smooth, set texture.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich mouthfeel and a smoother, silkier texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the sharp lemon flavor.
Lemons
Provide acidity and the bright lemon aroma and flavor.

The step that matters

Stir in the cornstarch once the mixture begins to boil. Cornstarch thickens only when it reaches a boil and stays hot enough for its granules to swell. Stirring constantly prevents lumps and scorching at the bottom of the pan.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Raisinfits about as well
  4. Figfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, 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.

More lemon custard recipes

Pie 47Pudding 3 See all 178 →

You might also like

Lemon CakeLemon Cake228 recipesLemon IceLemon Ice147 recipesLemon SherbetLemon Sherbet103 recipesLemon Water IceLemon Water Ice55 recipes