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Dessert

Cold Custards

A chilled custard set with rennet, sweetened with sugar and flavored with nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Cold Custards

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Mix the milk, cream, and sugar in a bowl.

  2. Soak the rennet in the white wine, then stir it into the milk mixture.

  3. Pour the mixture into custard cups.

  4. Place the cups in a warm area until they form a firm curd.

Chill and serve

  1. Transfer the cups to ice or a very cold place.

  2. Grate nutmeg over the custards before serving.

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.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Cream + white winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,760 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  5. Milk + white winetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together929 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rennet
Contains enzymes that coagulate the milk proteins into a set curd.
Milk
Provides the liquid base that the rennet sets into custard.
Cream
Adds fat for a richer, smoother texture in the set custard.
Powdered white sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the flavor of the custard.

The step that matters

Place the cups in a warm area until they form a firm curd. Rennet works best at warm temperatures, and the curd only sets properly when the mixture is kept still and warm long enough. Moving or disturbing the cups too early can prevent a firm set.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, cream, sugar, white wine):

  1. Cinnamonfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Peppermintfits less well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, sugar, white wine. 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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