Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Custard Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks and milk. Season with coarse sea salt to taste.
Pour the custard mixture into an ordinary pie crust.
Bake the custard
Bake in the hot oven until the crust is set, then move to a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) to bake the custard slowly.
Top and brown
When the custard is done, beat the egg whites until frothy, then add sugar and spread over the top.
Return to the oven to brown slightly.
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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they set, giving it a rich, smooth body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that sets into the custard when gently heated.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a froth, they make a light topping that puffs and sets.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the topping and helps it take on color when browned.
The step that matters
Baking the custard slowly at a moderate heat. Egg-based custard sets through gentle heat. If it bakes too hot or too long, the proteins tighten, causing a grainy, weeping texture.
“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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