Why it works: Egg and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 122,807 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Dutch Custard
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.
Prepare
Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk thoroughly with 3 ounces of fine sugar.
Line a pie dish with puff pastry or create a border around the edge.
Mix the raspberries with 3 ounces of sugar and add to the egg mixture.
Bake
Pour the mixture into the pie dish.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 35 minutes.
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.
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cook, giving it a firm, sliceable body.
- Fine sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the eggs whisk smoothly into a uniform mixture.
- Raspberries
- Add fruit flavour and tartness, and release juice into the custard as they cook.
- Puff pastry
- Forms the crisp, flaky base that holds the custard in the pie dish.
The step that matters
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 35 minutes. Egg custard sets through gentle heat. Too much heat or too long in the oven can curdle the eggs and leave the custard watery or rubbery.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.