Why it works: Milk and maple syrup work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 798 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓
Maple Custard
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Make the custard
Whisk the milk, eggs, and maple syrup together until well combined.
Pour the mixture into cups.
Bake
Place the cups in a baking dish and fill the dish with hot water to create a water bath.
Bake until set.
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.
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 + maple syruptop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together798 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + maple syruptop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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 a firm, sliceable structure.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and creamy, tender texture of the custard.
- Maple syrup
- Adds sweetness and maple flavour to the custard.
The step that matters
Place the cups in a water bath. The hot water surrounding the cups moderates the oven heat, so the custard heats gently and sets evenly. Without it, the edges can overcook and turn rubbery or curdle before the centre sets.
“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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