Why it works: Milk and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Layer Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Make a rich pastry and roll it out as thin as possible in jelly pans.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, boil the milk, sugar, and cornstarch until thick.
Let the mixture cool, then spread it on the pastry.
If not serving the same day, do not spread the filling.
Flavor to taste.
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 + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard filling.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk into a set custard when boiled.
The step that matters
Boil the milk, sugar, and cornstarch until thick. Cornstarch only thickens fully when the mixture reaches a boil, and it needs to be stirred so it does not scorch or form lumps. Undercooked starch leaves the filling thin and unable to hold a clean layer.
“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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