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Dessert

Corn Starch Meringue

A custard made with milk, eggs, and cornstarch, topped with a meringue flavored with jelly or jam.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Corn Starch Meringue

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 custard

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan until boiling.

  2. Dissolve the corn starch in a little cold water, then stir it into the boiling milk.

  3. Boil for 15 minutes, stirring constantly.

  4. Remove from heat and gradually add the beaten yolks of the eggs mixed with sugar and flavoring.

  5. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered pudding dish and bake at 350 °F (175 °C) for 15 minutes, or until the custard begins to set.

Top and serve

  1. Spread the beaten egg whites mixed with jelly over the top and bake for an additional 5 minutes until lightly browned.

  2. Serve cold, dusted with powdered sugar.

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.

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

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

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

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

  4. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  5. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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
Yolks thicken the custard and whites form the light meringue topping.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing body and creaminess.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk as it boils, giving the custard its set and smooth texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps the meringue stay glossy and stable.
Jelly or jam
Adds fruity sweetness and flavour to the meringue layer spread over the custard.

The step that matters

Boil the milk and cornstarch for 15 minutes while stirring constantly. Cornstarch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil, and constant stirring prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom of the pan. Stopping early leaves the custard thin and grainy.

“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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