Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cream Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard
Boil the milk.
Beat the egg yolks with ⅓ cup of sugar and flour until well combined.
Stir the yolk mixture into the boiling milk.
Add the butter to the mixture.
Bake the crust
Prick the pie crust to prevent blistering.
Bake the crust at 350°F (175°C) until golden.
Fill the pie
Pour the custard into the crust.
Return the pie to the oven for a few moments.
Top with meringue
Beat the egg whites until frothy.
Gradually add the remaining sugar to the egg whites.
Spread the meringue on top of the pie.
Brown the meringue slightly.
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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 as they heat and set, giving it a creamy body.
- Flour
- Thickens the custard as its starch swells in the hot milk.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that sets when baked.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue hold its foam.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smoother, silkier mouthfeel to the custard.
The step that matters
Gradually add the remaining sugar to the egg whites.. Adding sugar slowly while whipping helps the whites form a stable, glossy foam that holds its shape on top of the pie instead of weeping or collapsing.
“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.
More cream pie recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.