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 ↓
Peach Meringue
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Make the custard
Boil 1 quart of milk, reserving ½ teaspoon to moisten the corn starch.
Mix 2 tablespoons of corn starch with the reserved milk.
When the milk boils, add the corn starch mixture, stirring constantly until thickened.
Remove from heat, add 1 tablespoon of butter, and let cool.
Beat in the yolks of 3 eggs until the custard is light and creamy, then add ½ cup of sugar.
Assemble and bake
In a well‑buttered baking dish, layer the peaches and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar.
Pour the custard over the peaches and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cover with the beaten egg whites, sprinkling with fine sugar.
Return to the oven until the meringue is browned.
Serve
Serve warm with sauce or cold with cream.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + peachtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together781 recipes
Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + peachtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together94 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Butter + peachtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together860 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk into a smooth custard as it boils.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and help it set to a creamy texture.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms the meringue and browns in the oven.
- Peaches
- Provide fruit flavour and a soft, juicy layer under the custard.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the custard that thickens and sets.
The step that matters
Stirring the custard while it thickens. Corn starch can clump or scorch on the bottom of the pan if it is not stirred constantly as the milk boils. Stirring keeps the thickening even and the custard smooth.
Swap the peach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, corn, butter, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Peachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, corn, butter, egg, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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