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
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the caramel and custard
Melt the sugar in a pan until caramelized.
Pour the caramel into a mixing bowl and add the milk, salt, and vanilla.
Cool the mixture, then stir in the beaten yolks and the egg white.
Pour the mixture into a buttered pudding dish.
Bake and serve
Place the dish in a water bath and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until set.
Make a meringue with the egg whites and brown it in the oven.
Serve the custard topped with the meringue.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Sugar
- Melts and caramelizes to give the custard its sweetness and deep, toasty flavor.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into a smooth, tender custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they set during gentle baking, giving a rich texture.
- Egg white
- Whipped into the meringue to add airy volume and a crisp, browned topping.
- Vanilla
- Adds aroma that rounds out the sweet, eggy flavor of the custard.
The step that matters
Caramelizing the sugar. Sugar darkens quickly once it starts to colour and turns bitter if overcooked, so remove it from the heat at a golden amber.
“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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