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Dessert

Lemon Custard

A custard pie made with sweet milk, butter, lemon, eggs, flour, sugar, and pastry.

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

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Lemon Custard

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard

  1. In a large saucepan, combine the sweet milk and butter, then bring to a boil.

  2. While cooling, grate the juice and rind of the lemon into a bowl.

  3. Beat the eggs until light, then mix in the flour and sugar.

  4. Combine the lemon mixture with the milk and butter mixture.

Bake

  1. Line 2 pie plates with the rich pastry and fill with the custard mixture.

  2. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C) or until the custard is set.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Walnut + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,149 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Walnut + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
Set when heated, giving the custard its firm, sliceable structure.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that gives the custard its body and moisture.
Flour
Thickens the custard so it holds its shape when cut.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the tartness of the lemon.
Lemon
Adds acidity and bright citrus aroma to the custard.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Bake until the custard is set. Egg proteins coagulate as the custard heats, forming a firm set. Pulling the pie too early leaves the filling runny and unable to hold its shape when cut.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, lemon, egg, flour, sugar):

  1. Almondfits better
  2. Pistachiofits about as well
  3. Milletfits about as well
  4. Walnutthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, lemon, egg, flour, 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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