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Savory Custard

A custard made with milk, water, beef extract, salt, and egg, steamed until firm.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,759 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Savory Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Dissolve the beef extract in the hot water.

  2. Add the hot milk and salt to the mixture.

  3. Combine this with the beaten egg.

Steam and set

  1. Strain the mixture and steam it over hot water until firm.

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 + beeftop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

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

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

  3. Beef + eggtop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg
Its proteins set on heating, giving the custard a firm, sliceable structure.
Milk
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the set custard tender rather than rubbery.
Beef extract
Adds a concentrated savory beef flavour to the custard.

The step that matters

Steaming until firm. Egg proteins set as they heat, but too much heat tightens them further, causing a grainy, curdled or watery custard. Steam gently and stop once the custard is just firm.

“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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