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Dessert

Custard Pie

A baked custard filling made with eggs, sugar, milk, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a pie crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg 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 Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Beat the egg whites and yolks together until well combined.

  3. Stir the salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg into the sugar.

  4. Combine the sugar and egg mixture in a quart cup and add milk to make a total of 1½ pints.

  5. Taste the mixture and add more sugar if needed.

Fill the crust

  1. Line a pie plate with crust.

  2. Stir the mixture well and pour it into the crust.

Bake and cool

  1. Bake for about 45 minutes, ensuring the custard does not boil.

  2. Check for doneness by inserting a knife; it should come out clean.

  3. Allow the pie to cool completely before cutting.

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.

  1. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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 set as they heat, giving the custard its firm, sliceable body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that gently sets into a smooth, creamy custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and softens the set slightly for a tender texture.

The step that matters

Bake gently and keep the custard from boiling. Egg proteins set at moderate heat. Boiling can make the custard curdle, weep, or turn grainy, so it is important to bake gently and check doneness with a knife.

“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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