Why it works: Milk and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,738 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Custard Sauce for Tarts or Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a saucepan.
In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in sugar to taste.
Stir the egg mixture into the hot milk.
Add the brandy and stir until thickened to a cream-like consistency.
Serve
Serve over pudding or in a tureen.
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.
-
Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
-
Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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
- Eggs
- Their proteins thicken the custard as they gently set in the warm milk.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into a smooth sauce.
- Brandy
- Adds flavour and aroma to the sauce.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the rich custard.
The step that matters
Stir the egg mixture into the hot milk. Egg proteins set at moderate heat, so adding the eggs to hot milk while stirring constantly helps the sauce thicken smoothly; if the eggs are added too fast or the mixture overheats, they can curdle into lumps.
“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.
More custard sauce recipes
You might also like
Brandy Peaches68 recipes
Brandy Cream21 recipes
Brandy Pudding13 recipes
White Cake431 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.