Name: Arrow Root Custard
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons arrowroot; 1 teacup cold milk; 1 quart milk; 3 eggs

Why it works: Arrowroot and milk work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 817 recipes. Both carry 2-methylbutyraldehyde, which smells malty, chocolate. The science ↓

Arrow Root Custard

Ingredients

2 tablespoons arrowroot
1 teacup cold milk
1 quart milk
3 eggs

Directions

Mix the arrowroot with the cold milk in a teacup.
Boil the quart of milk in a saucepan.
Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Stir the arrowroot mixture into the beaten eggs.
Pour the boiling milk into the egg and arrowroot mixture, stirring continuously.
Transfer the mixture to a pitcher and boil as directed.

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.

Arrowroot + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together817 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Arrowroot + eggtop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together626 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).