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Dessert

Boiled Custard

A custard made by boiling milk, sugar, salt, butter, and cornstarch, then adding beaten egg yolks and vanilla.

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

Boiled Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Heat the base

  1. Combine milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a double boiler.

  2. Heat the mixture until it boils.

  3. Blend cornstarch in a scant cup of water or milk.

Thicken and finish

  1. Add the blended cornstarch to the boiling mixture while stirring constantly.

  2. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens.

  3. Turn off the heat, then quickly add the beaten egg yolks.

  4. Stir deftly to prevent curdling.

  5. Add vanilla after removing from the stove.

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.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  4. Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the custard thickens into.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as their proteins set with gentle heat, and add richness.
Cornstarch
Thickens the boiling liquid as its starch granules swell and gel.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances its richness.
Butter
Adds fat for a richer flavour and smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks. Egg yolk proteins set and can curdle if they meet very hot liquid. Removing the pan from the heat first and stirring quickly spreads the heat evenly, so the yolks thicken the custard smoothly instead of turning grainy.

“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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