Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Custard Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Mix the corn starch with a little cold milk and stir it into the milk.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar together, then stir them into the milk mixture.
Beat the egg whites with 2 teaspoons of sugar until stiff, then fold them into the mixture.
Add the salt and vanilla extract or cinnamon.
Prepare the pie plate
Butter a deep pie plate and line it with puff pastry.
Bake
Pour the custard into the lined pie plate and bake until light brown.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,943 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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
- Egg yolks thicken the custard and whites add lightness and structure when set by heat.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs and starch set into a creamy custard.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk so the custard holds its body instead of running.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the custard brown lightly in the oven.
- Puff pastry
- Forms a flaky shell that holds the liquid custard while it bakes.
The step that matters
Bake until light brown. Egg proteins set with heat, but overbaking tightens them further, which can make the custard grainy, curdled, or watery as it weeps liquid.
“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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