Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓
Apple 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.
Make the custard base
Combine the milk and sugar in a saucepan.
Place the saucepan in a larger pot of boiling water.
Mix the corn starch with a little cold milk.
Stir the corn starch mixture into the saucepan.
Cook until it boils for 2 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks with a spoonful of cold milk.
Stir the yolks into the mixture.
Cook until it thickens, but do not let it boil.
Remove from heat.
Add apples and egg whites
Stir in the grated apples and cinnamon.
Beat the egg whites with 1 tablespoon of sugar until stiff.
Fold the egg whites into the mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour the mixture into a custard dish or cups.
Place the dish in a pan with boiling water.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes.
Serve warm or cold.
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.
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Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,598 recipes
Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).
-
Corn + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together647 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Yolks thicken the custard and whites, whipped and folded in, give it a light, airy lift.
- Corn starch
- Starch thickens the milk mixture so the custard sets smoothly rather than runny.
- Rich sweet milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it body and a creamy texture.
- Grated apples
- Add moisture, fruity flavor and soft texture throughout the custard.
- White granulated sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps stabilize the whipped egg whites.
The step that matters
Cook the yolks without boiling. Egg yolks thicken gently around 160°F to 170°F; boiling can curdle them and leave a grainy texture. Stir constantly and remove from heat once thickened.
Swap the apple
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, corn, egg, cinnamon):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, corn, egg, cinnamon. 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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