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 ↓
Carmel Pie
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 filling
Dissolve the sugar in a saucepan with the milk and stir until smooth.
Beat the egg yolks with cornstarch and vanilla, then add to the sugar mixture.
Cook the mixture over medium heat until thick.
Pour the filling into a pre-baked pastry crust.
Top and bake
Beat the egg whites until light, then gradually add the sugar to make meringue.
Spread the meringue over the filling and brown in the oven at 350°F (175°C).
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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Granulated sugar
- Sweetens the filling and, in the meringue, stabilizes the whipped egg whites.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard filling.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken and enrich the custard as they set with heat.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the filling as starch granules swell when heated.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a light foam that gives the meringue its structure.
- Vanilla extract
- Adds aroma to the filling.
The step that matters
Cooking the filling until thick. Cornstarch thickens only as it heats fully, but overheating or stirring poorly can scorch the milk or scramble the egg yolks, leaving a lumpy or grainy filling.
“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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