Why it works: Orange and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,696 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Orange 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.
Prepare
Remove the peel from the oranges, cut them in half, and rub through a colander.
Heat the milk to boiling.
Make the custard
Dissolve the cornstarch in a little cold milk and add it to the boiling milk along with the beaten egg yolks.
Cook until thickened, then allow to cool and stir in the orange puree.
Make the meringue and bake
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, then gradually add the sugar.
Spread the meringue on top of the custard and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until slightly brown.
Serve 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.
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.
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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Milk + eggtop 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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Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,212 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the custard, and whites whipped with sugar form the meringue topping.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk mixture as it heats, giving the custard body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that the cornstarch and yolks set.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the meringue and helps the whipped whites hold their stiff peaks.
- Oranges
- Supply the orange puree that flavours the custard and adds acidity.
The step that matters
Cook the custard until thickened. Cornstarch thickens only when the mixture reaches a boil and is kept cooking briefly, so stopping early leaves a thin custard. Stirring constantly helps prevent the egg yolks from scrambling.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar. 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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