Why it works: Lemon and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Lemon Custard
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Make the custard
In a bowl, mix the egg yolks, sugar, cold water, grated lemon, corn starch, and butter until smooth.
Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake until set, about 30-40 minutes.
Top and finish
Remove from the oven and spread the beaten egg white on top, sprinkling with powdered sugar.
Return to the oven and bake until the top is light brown.
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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Lemon + corntop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,927 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and enrich its texture as they set.
- Egg whites
- Beaten and spread on top, they set and brown into a light crust.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the liquid so the custard sets smooth rather than runny.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the topping brown.
- Grated lemon
- Adds bright acidity and lemon aroma to the custard.
The step that matters
Bake the custard until set before adding the topping. Corn starch and egg yolks thicken as they heat; underbaking leaves the custard runny, so it may not hold under the beaten egg white topping.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, corn, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, corn, butter. 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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