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 ↓
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
Separate the eggs, placing the yolks in a bowl.
Beat the yolks with the sugar.
Mix the cornstarch with a little milk and stir it into the yolk mixture.
Combine this mixture with the 2 cups of milk in a double boiler.
Cook until the custard thickens, then add flavoring of your choice.
Bake and finish
Pour the custard into a pie crust.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until the custard sets.
Make a meringue with the egg whites and spread it on top of the pie.
Return the pie to the oven and brown the meringue.
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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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 custard and whites form the meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps stabilise the beaten egg yolks.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it body and moisture.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the custard as it heats so it sets into a sliceable filling.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard in the double boiler. Cornstarch thickens only when the custard reaches a boil, and egg yolks can scramble if overheated. Stirring gently over simmering water thickens the custard smoothly without 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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