Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Custard Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Wet the cornstarch in a little of the milk and add it to the beaten egg yolks.
Heat the remaining milk in a double boiler until scalding.
Stir in the egg and cornstarch mixture.
Let it boil for one minute after thickening.
Remove from heat, add sugar and salt, and let cool.
Chill and serve
Once cold, stir in the vanilla and refrigerate until needed.
Serve by pouring the sauce around the pudding on each dessert plate.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the sauce as they set with heat, giving it a rich, smooth body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce and carries the other ingredients.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk and yolk mixture when heated, giving the sauce body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the yolks and milk.
The step that matters
Boiling after thickening. Cornstarch needs to reach a boil to fully thicken and lose its raw starchy taste. Egg yolks can curdle if overheated, so the sauce should be kept gently stirred and not boiled longer than the recipe says.
“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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