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Dessert

Pastry Cream

A custard made from milk, sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, vanilla, and butter, cooked until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Pastry Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Bring the milk and sugar to a boil.

  2. Dissolve the cornstarch in a little water and add it to the boiling milk.

  3. Once it reboils, remove from heat.

  4. Beat in the egg yolks and return to heat for 2 minutes to set the eggs.

  5. Add the vanilla extract and butter.

Cool

  1. Let it cool before using.

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. Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the custard thickens and sets into.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the custard.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk as it boils, giving the cream its body.
Egg yolks
Thicken and enrich the custard, adding richness and structure as they set.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel in the finished cream.

The step that matters

Returning the custard to heat after adding the egg yolks. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated, but they must reach a gentle heat to set and thicken the custard properly. Stirring constantly keeps the eggs evenly heated and the texture smooth.

“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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