Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Custard Pudding
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
Heat the milk in a saucepan.
In a separate bowl, mix the eggs with a little cold milk.
Add the sugar and egg mixture to the hot milk, stirring continuously while boiling.
For baked custard, mix all ingredients together while cold.
Bake
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven until set.
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.
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they coagulate with heat, giving it structure.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that sets into a soft, creamy custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps keep the custard tender.
The step that matters
Stirring while the sugar and egg mixture goes into the hot milk. Eggs can scramble if they meet very hot liquid without constant stirring. Stirring keeps the proteins dispersed so the custard thickens smoothly instead of curdling in lumps.
“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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