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 ↓
Cream Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
In a bowl, mix 4 eggs (reserve 2 whites), 1 cup sugar, ½ cup flour, and a pinch of salt until smooth with a little cold milk.
Stir this mixture into 1 quart of boiling milk and simmer slowly until thick, stirring constantly.
Flavor with vanilla or lemon, then pour into a baked pie crust.
Top and bake
Beat the reserved egg whites to stiff peaks, then gradually add ½ cup sugar and spread over the top of the pie.
Bake for 5 minutes until the top is lightly browned.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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
- Thicken the custard as they set and enrich it; reserved whites form the meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, in the meringue, helps the whites hold stiff peaks.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth, sliceable custard as it cooks.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that thickens when heated.
The step that matters
Simmer the filling until thick. The flour and egg mixture must be cooked long enough, with constant stirring, for starches to swell and proteins to set. Undercooked custard stays thin and can taste pasty, and constant stirring prevents scorching and lumps.
Swap the vanilla
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, flour, milk):
- Vanillathe original
- Raisinfits about as well
- Figfits less well
- Blueberryfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, flour, milk. 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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