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Dessert

Caramel Custard

A custard made from milk, eggs, cornflour, caramelized sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Caramel Custard

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

Prepare

  1. Combine milk, 2 tablespoons castor sugar, and a pinch of salt in a basin.

  2. Place the basin in a saucepan of hot water over low heat.

  3. Mix cornflour with a little cold milk.

Make the custard

  1. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  2. Beat the eggs in a large basin.

  3. Add 1 tablespoon brown sugar to a saucepan and stir over low heat until scorched, careful not to burn.

  4. Pour the hot milk mixture onto the beaten eggs.

  5. Return the mixture to the saucepan.

  6. Thicken the mixture with the cornflour.

Finish and serve

  1. Just before removing from heat, stir in the scorched sugar until fully dissolved.

  2. Remove from heat and add vanilla essence generously.

  3. Serve cold.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

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

Eggs
Set the custard as they cook, giving it structure and a firm, sliceable texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and supplies moisture and creaminess.
Cornflour
Thickens the milk mixture so the custard becomes smooth and spoonable rather than runny.
Brown sugar
Scorched into a caramel that adds colour and a deep, toasted sweetness.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the custard base and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.

The step that matters

Scorching the brown sugar. Sugar goes from amber to bitter very quickly once it darkens. Stopping at a rich brown keeps the caramel flavour pleasant rather than burnt, and stirring it in just before removing from heat keeps it from hardening or overcooking.

“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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