Name: Custard Pie
Ingredients: 4 ounces powdered sugar; 5 whole eggs; 1 quart cold milk; 1 teaspoon lemon essence

Why it works: Milk and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Custard Pie

6 pieces

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

4 ounces powdered sugar
5 whole eggs
1 quart cold milk
1 teaspoon lemon essence

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard

Combine powdered sugar and eggs in a bowl.
Beat the mixture with a whisk for 3 minutes.
Add cold milk and lemon essence.
Mix well for 2 minutes.
Strain the mixture through a sieve into another bowl.

Bake and serve

Line a deep pie plate.
Fill the lined plate with the mixture.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes.
Remove the pie from the oven.
Let it cool completely.
Cut the cooled pie into 6 equal pieces.
Serve the pieces on a dessert dish with a folded napkin.

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.

Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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: Set the custard and give it structure as they cook.
Powdered sugar: Sweetens the custard and dissolves smoothly into the eggs.
Milk: Provides the liquid base that bakes into a creamy custard.

The step that matters

Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes. Eggs set as their proteins coagulate with heat. Underbaking leaves the custard runny, while overbaking can make it grainy or cause it to weep. Watch for a firm edge with a slight wobble in the center.