Why it works: Milk and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,475 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓
Trifle
Ingredients
Directions
Assemble
In a glass dish, layer the strawberries and sprinkle with sugar.
Add a layer of macaroons over the fruit.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, scald the milk and mix in the egg yolks and ½ cup sugar to make custard.
Pour the hot custard over the fruit and macaroons.
Top and garnish
Let it cool, then top with beaten egg whites mixed with ½ cup sugar or whipped cream.
Garnish with dots of currant jelly.
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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Milk + curranttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Sugar and milk 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
- Strawberries
- Provide fresh fruit flavour and a moist, juicy layer under the custard.
- Macaroons
- Soak up liquid from the custard, softening into a tender, cake-like layer.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a rich custard that sets as it cools.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the custard, giving it body and creaminess.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a light, airy topping that adds volume and lightness.
The step that matters
Pour the hot custard over the fruit and macaroons. The custard must be hot enough to thicken from the egg yolks, but if the yolks are overheated they can scramble and turn grainy. Scalding the milk first and adding it gradually helps keep the custard smooth.
Swap the currant
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Currantthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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