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Dessert

Orange Custard

A custard made with milk, eggs, sugar, bitter almond extract, and fresh orange slices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Orange Custard

Why it works: Orange and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Orange Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk in a double boiler until bubbles form around the edge.

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and whites separately, then mix in the sugar.

  3. Pour the scalded milk over the egg mixture while stirring continuously.

  4. Return the mixture to the double boiler and stir until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.

  5. Remove from heat and strain into a clean bowl.

  6. Place the bowl in a pan of cold water and stir until the custard cools.

  7. Add the bitter almond extract.

Assemble and serve

  1. Peel the oranges, removing all the white pith, and slice them thinly, removing any seeds.

  2. Arrange the sliced oranges in a bowl and pour the cooled custard over them.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,696 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,679 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg proteins and yolks thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and creamy body that the eggs thicken.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the set custard's texture.
Oranges
Supply fresh citrus flavour and acidity against the rich custard.

The step that matters

Thickening the custard over heat. Egg proteins set at gentle heat, but if the mixture gets too hot or is stirred too little, the eggs can scramble and turn grainy. Stir steadily and remove it once it coats a spoon.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar, almond):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, almond. 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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