Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Victorie Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil the milk in a saucepan.
Thicken the milk with cornstarch and add butter.
Beat the eggs separately, then mix the yolks with sugar.
Once the milk cools, combine it with the egg mixture and season with cinnamon.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake until browned.
Serve warm.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + cinnamontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,784 recipes
Shared aroma: anethole (sweet, anise).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 the custard as it sets and help give the filling its rich body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, which sets into a soft filling when heated.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the hot milk so the custard holds its shape rather than running.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and adds to its smooth, tender texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer flavour and a smoother mouthfeel in the filling.
The step that matters
Combining the milk with the egg mixture. If the milk is too hot when it meets the eggs, the yolks can scramble. Letting the milk cool first keeps the custard smooth and silky.
“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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