Why it works: Egg and milk 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 ↓
Custards
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the egg whites and yolks separately until light and fluffy.
Soak gelatin in cold water or milk for 1–2 hours, then dissolve it over a warm place.
Combine and bake
Combine the dissolved gelatin with the hot custard after removing it from the stove.
Bake in a baking dish or cups set in a pan of hot water until the center is firm.
Finish
Strain the beaten yolks through a small wire strainer for a smoother texture.
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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Egg + milktop 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).
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Egg + sugartop 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
- Provide structure and thickening as their proteins set during gentle baking.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the set custard's texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that becomes the custard body.
The step that matters
Bake until the center is firm. Egg proteins set gradually in gentle heat. Overbaking, especially without a hot water bath, can tighten the custard, curdle it, and cause weeping.
“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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