Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Custard Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather quick oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 300 °F (150 °C).
Line a pie plate with pastry.
Make the custard
Heat 1 pint of milk in a saucepan.
Whisk 1 teaspoon of flour with ½ cup of cold milk until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the hot milk and cook for 5 minutes.
Beat 3 eggs and mix in ½ cup of sugar, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and the flavoring.
Pour the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture and strain into the pie plate.
Bake
Bake slowly, ensuring it does not boil, until a knife inserted comes out clean.
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 + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Set the custard as they cook, giving it structure and a creamy body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and contributes richness and softness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and softens its set texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk slightly, giving the custard a smoother, more stable body.
The step that matters
Bake slowly without letting it boil. Egg proteins set gently at low heat. Boiling or high heat can curdle the custard, causing a grainy texture and weeping liquid.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, egg, sugar. 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.
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