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
Combine the milk and sugar in a saucepan, then place the saucepan over a pot of boiling water.
Mix the corn starch with a little cold milk, then stir it into the saucepan and cook until it boils for 2 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks with a spoonful of cold milk, then stir them into the mixture and cook until thickened, avoiding boiling.
Remove the saucepan from heat and stir in the grated apples and cinnamon.
Bake and serve
Beat the egg whites with 1 tablespoon of sugar until stiff, then fold them into the custard.
Pour the custard into a dish or cups and place them in a pan of boiling water.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes, then 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).
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Corn + cinnamontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together647 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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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 stiff, lighten its texture.
- Corn starch
- Starch swells when heated and thickens the custard to a smooth set.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries its richness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the whipped egg whites hold their stiff structure.
- Grated apples
- Contribute moisture and fruity flavour to the set custard.
The step that matters
Cooking the egg yolks without boiling. Egg yolk proteins thicken the custard as they heat, but if it boils they curdle and turn grainy. Keep it gently hot and stop once it coats a spoon.
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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