Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Nut Filling
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Wet the cornstarch with a little of the milk.
Place in a double boiler with the rest of the milk and cook until smooth.
Beat the yolks to a light cream with the sugar.
Pour the hot milk gradually over the yolks, then return to the boiler.
Cook until it coats the spoon, stirring constantly.
Finish the filling
Remove from heat and when cool, add the nutmeats.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness to the filling.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk mixture so the filling sets smooth and spreadable.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the yolks and cornstarch thicken.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps soften the yolks as they are beaten.
- Pecan nutmeats
- Add nutty flavor and a bit of texture to the finished filling.
The step that matters
Pour the hot milk gradually over the yolks. Adding hot milk too quickly can scramble the egg yolks. Pouring slowly while whisking tempers them, so the custard thickens smoothly instead of curdling.
“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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