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Dessert

Caramel Custard

A sweet custard made with milk, sugar, eggs, cornstarch, and vanilla, topped with caramelized sugar.

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

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 ↓

Caramel Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine milk, white sugar, and salt in a saucepan over medium heat.

  2. Beat the eggs in a large bowl without separating them.

  3. Dissolve the cornstarch in a little cold milk.

  4. Heat the brown sugar in a separate pan until it is scorched but not burned.

Make the custard

  1. Pour the hot milk mixture over the beaten eggs, then return it to the saucepan.

  2. Stir in the cornstarch mixture until thickened.

  3. Add the scorched sugar and remove from heat, then stir in the vanilla.

Chill

  1. Pour into custard glasses and refrigerate until cold.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Eggs
Set with gentle heat to give the custard its body and structure.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that gives the custard its creamy, smooth texture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard so it holds its shape when chilled.
White sugar
Adds sweetness to the custard base.
Brown sugar
Scorched, it adds a deep caramel flavour to the custard.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot milk over the beaten eggs. If hot milk is added to the eggs too quickly, the egg proteins can set in lumps and scramble. Pouring slowly while whisking gently warms the eggs so the custard stays smooth before it is returned to the heat to thicken.

“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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