Name: Baked Custard
Ingredients: 4 fresh eggs; 5 ounces pulverized sugar; 1 quart rich new milk, cold; 1 teaspoon distilled rose-water or any flavoring extract

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 ↓

Baked Custard

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

4 fresh eggs
5 ounces pulverized sugar
1 quart rich new milk, cold
1 teaspoon distilled rose-water or any flavoring extract

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the custard

Beat the yolks of the eggs for at least 30 minutes.
Add the pulverized sugar and mix well.
Stir in the cold milk and the rose-water or flavoring extract.
Fill custard cups with the mixture.

Bake and serve

Place the cups in a pan half-filled with warm water.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 20 minutes until firm.

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.

Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + rosetop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,584 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Milk + rosetop 26% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,249 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Sugar and milk 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

Eggs: Yolks provide the proteins that set the custard into a firm, sliceable body when heated.
Pulverized sugar: Sweetens the custard and softens its set slightly by competing with egg proteins for moisture.
Rich new milk: Supplies liquid and fat that give the custard a smooth, creamy texture.

The step that matters

Bake in a water bath until firm. Eggs set between about 160°F and 180°F. Baking the cups in warm water moderates the heat, so the custard firms evenly without curdling or becoming rubbery. Stop when the centre is just set, since residual heat keeps cooking it.

“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.