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 ↓
Soft Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Boil the milk in a saucepan.
Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Gradually pour the boiling milk into the eggs while stirring continuously.
Sweeten the mixture to taste and strain it into a pitcher.
Place the pitcher in a pot of boiling water.
Cook until the custard thickens, stirring constantly to prevent curdling.
Add your desired flavoring and pour into custard glasses.
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 + 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
- Eggs
- Egg proteins coagulate when heated, setting the milk into a thick, smooth custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base, and its proteins and fats give the custard body and a creamy texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the rich, eggy flavor of the custard.
The step that matters
Cook until the custard thickens, stirring constantly. Egg proteins set with heat, but if they get too hot or cook unevenly they scramble and curdle. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly so the custard thickens smoothly.
“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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