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 ↓
Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Beat the yolks of the eggs and sugar together until light.
Add the boiling milk and let it simmer without boiling until slightly thickened.
Remove from heat and cool, then add your chosen flavoring.
Finish and serve
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and fold them into the sauce just before serving.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + milktop 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).
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 thicken the sauce as they cook gently, and whites add lightness when folded in.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps the yolks beat to a light, smooth texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the yolks heat and thicken into a sauce.
The step that matters
Simmer without boiling. Egg yolks thicken gently as they heat. If the mixture boils, the yolks can scramble and curdle, leaving the sauce grainy instead of smooth.
“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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