Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Pudding Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
In a double boiler, heat the milk.
In a bowl, beat together the sugar and egg yolks.
Pour a little hot milk into the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
Return the mixture to the double boiler and cook until it slightly thickens.
Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.
Serve
Pour the sauce over the pudding.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 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 vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 sauce as they set with gentle heat, giving it body and richness.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce and carries the thickening egg yolks.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the sauce and helps stabilise the egg yolks against curdling.
The step that matters
Return the mixture to the double boiler and cook until it slightly thickens.. Egg yolks thicken at gentle heat, but if the sauce gets too hot it can curdle or turn grainy. Keeping the double boiler at a low simmer and stirring steadily gives a smooth, lightly thickened custard.
“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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