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Dessert

French Custard

A custard made with milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and optional wine, layered with whipped egg whites and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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French Custard

Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

French Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Separate the eggs.

  2. Beat the yolks until thick.

  3. Add the milk, vanilla, and sugar to the yolks and mix well.

  4. Place the mixture in a pan over low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens into custard.

  5. Pour the custard into a pudding dish.

  6. Let it cool.

Prepare the egg whites

  1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and dry.

  2. Place the egg whites over a pan of boiling water, cover, and steam until cooked.

Assemble and serve

  1. In a serving dish, layer the custard and egg whites alternately.

  2. Grate a little nutmeg on each custard layer.

  3. Add a teaspoon of wine if desired.

  4. Reserve a layer of egg whites for the top and grate nutmeg over it.

  5. Serve cold.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, and whites form a light, airy layer.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, which thickens as the egg proteins set.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the yolks and milk.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard over low heat. Egg yolks can curdle if the mixture gets too hot or is left unstirred. Constant stirring over low heat lets the proteins set gently into a smooth 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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