Why it works: Almond and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,800 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Almond Custabd
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the almonds
Pour boiling water over almonds in a deep dish to blanch them, then cover and let stand for 3 minutes.
Transfer almonds to cold water and rub off the skins.
Pound the blanched almonds very fine.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, combine the ground almonds and milk, and bring to a boil.
Sweeten to taste.
Beat the eggs in a bowl and strain them.
Gradually pour the hot almond milk mixture over the eggs, stirring constantly.
Return the mixture to the saucepan and heat gently, stirring until thickened.
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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Almond + milktop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Almond + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Milk + eggtop 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
- Almonds
- Provide the nutty flavour and body of the custard once pounded and infused into the milk.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into a smooth custard.
- Eggs
- Coagulate with gentle heat to set and thicken the custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness, balancing the flavour of the almonds and eggs.
The step that matters
Returning the mixture to the saucepan and heating gently. Egg proteins set at moderate temperatures, and too much heat or too little stirring can scramble the eggs and curdle the custard. Tempering the eggs with hot milk first and then stirring over gentle heat keeps the texture smooth.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, sugar):
- Pecansfits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Cocoafits about as well
- Walnutfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar. 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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