Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Custard Kettle
Ingredients
Directions
Heat the milk in a kettle of boiling water until it foams slightly.
Mix the beaten and strained egg yolks with the sugar in a bowl.
Gradually add several tablespoons of the boiling milk to the egg mixture, stirring constantly.
Slowly stir the egg mixture back into the boiling milk.
Stir constantly until the mixture thickens slightly, but do not let it curdle.
Remove from heat and cool immediately in cold water or a cold dish.
Add flavoring extracts after removing from the stove.
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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,287 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and, with the yolks, sets into a smooth, creamy custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat and add richness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps soften the set texture of the yolks.
The step that matters
Stir constantly until the mixture thickens slightly, but do not let it curdle.. Egg proteins set with heat, and if the custard gets too hot or sits unstirred, they tighten and curdle. Constant stirring and removing it from heat as soon as it thickens keeps the texture smooth.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon):
- Figfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon. 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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