Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Floating Island
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a saucepan until it boils.
Stir in the egg yolks and flour until well combined.
Allow the mixture to boil briefly, then pour it into a serving dish.
Make and serve the floating island
Drop the beaten egg whites into hot water in a separate pot until cooked.
Place the cooked egg whites on top of the custard once it has cooled.
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 + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it body and a creamy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they heat, giving it structure and richness.
- Flour
- Stabilises the custard so it thickens smoothly and holds its shape when cooled.
- Egg whites
- Whipped and poached, they form the light, airy floating islands on top.
The step that matters
Allow the mixture to boil briefly, then pour it into a serving dish.. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overheating can curdle them. A brief boil helps the flour thicken the custard while keeping it smooth.
“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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