Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Maizena Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Heat the milk in a double boiler until hot.
Mix the Maizena in a little cold milk to prevent lumps.
Beat the egg with the powdered sugar.
Cook
Combine all ingredients and let it boil for three minutes.
Add salt and flavoring to taste.
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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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
- Maizena
- Cornstarch that thickens the custard as its starch swells in hot liquid.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the starch thickens into a smooth custard.
- Egg
- Adds richness and body, with its proteins helping the custard set as it heats.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves easily into the custard base.
The step that matters
Boil the combined mixture for three minutes. Cornstarch granules swell and thicken only once the mixture reaches a boil, so it must be fully hot. Stirring keeps the starch evenly dispersed and prevents lumps and scorching on the bottom.
“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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