Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Custards
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the custard
Scald the milk and let it cool.
In a bowl, mix the cooled milk with the beaten eggs, sugar, and rosewater.
Strain the mixture through a sieve into custard cups.
Cook
Place the cups in a deep iron pan and fill the pan halfway with water.
Boil the water hard to cook the custards.
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 + 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).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 when heated, thickening the milk into a custard.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and creamy body of the custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the rich, eggy custard.
- Rosewater
- Adds a floral aroma to the custard.
The step that matters
Boil the water hard to cook the custards. Egg proteins thicken as they heat, and the water around the cups moderates that heat. Too much heat or too long in the pan can make the custard grainy, curdled, or watery, so watch it as it sets.
“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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