Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Boiled Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Heat the milk in a double boiler until it reaches boiling point.
In a bowl, mix the eggs, sugar, and corn starch thoroughly.
Slowly pour the egg mixture into the boiling milk, stirring gently to prevent sticking.
When the mixture thickens to the consistency of thick cream, remove from heat and pour into a bowl to cool.
Finish and serve
Once cool, gently stir in the beaten egg whites and serve very cold.
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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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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).
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Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 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
- Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness to the texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into a creamy custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the eggs and milk.
- Corn starch
- Stabilises the custard and helps it thicken smoothly without curdling.
- Egg whites
- Folded in at the end to lighten the texture of the cooled custard.
The step that matters
Adding the egg mixture to the hot milk. Pouring the eggs in too quickly or without constant stirring can scramble them. Stirring gently while adding them lets the proteins set evenly into a smooth, thickened custard.
“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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