Name: Custard, Boiled
Ingredients: 1 pint milk; 1 pint cream; 1 bay leaf; thin rind of ½ lemon; 3 ounces sugar; 6 egg yolks; ⅓ cup brandy

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 ↓

Custard, Boiled

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

In a well-lined saucepan, simmer the milk and cream with the bay leaf and lemon rind for 30 minutes.
Strain the liquid and return it to the saucepan with the sugar.
Beat the egg yolks well and gradually add them to the milk, stirring carefully until it thickens. Do not let it boil, or it will curdle.

Finish and serve

Pour the custard into a large jug and stir in the brandy until slightly cooled.
Fill cups with the custard and serve.

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.

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.

Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,738 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,635 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,340 recipes

Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Milk: Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the flavour of the infused bay and lemon.
Cream: Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the custard.
Egg yolks: Thicken the custard as they set gently with heat, giving it body.
Sugar: Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.
Brandy: Adds aroma and a warm, spirited flavour to the finished custard.

The step that matters

Keep the custard below boiling while it thickens. Egg yolks begin to set around 70°C and scramble if overheated, so the custard curdles and turns grainy. Stirring steadily over gentle heat keeps the proteins setting evenly into a smooth thickened custard.