Why it works: Egg and milk 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 ↓
Custard Pie
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).
Prepare the pie crust by baking it lightly; prick the crust to prevent blistering.
Make the custard
In a bowl, beat the eggs and mix in the milk and sugar until well combined.
Add your choice of flavoring to the mixture.
Bake and serve
Pour the custard mixture into the prepared crust.
Bake until set, about 30‑40 minutes.
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.
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Egg + milktop 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
- Set the custard as their proteins coagulate, giving it structure.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and moisture that makes the custard smooth and tender.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.
- Pie crust
- Holds the liquid custard in a shell so it can set into a sliceable pie.
The step that matters
Bake until set. The egg proteins set as the custard heats; overbaking tightens them too far, causing a grainy texture and weeping liquid, while underbaking leaves it runny. Check for a set center rather than relying only on the timer.
“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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