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Dessert

Apple Custard

A baked custard of grated apples, eggs, and cornstarch topped with beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Apple and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,478 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Apple Custard

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Grate the apples and sweeten to taste.

  3. Mix the grated apples with cornstarch moistened in a little water and the egg yolks.

Bake and top

  1. Pour the mixture into a pie crust-lined dish and bake until set.

  2. Beat the egg whites to a light froth, adding a little pulverized sugar.

  3. Spread the beaten egg whites over the baked custard and return to the oven until slightly browned.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Apple + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together16,478 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  2. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Apple + eggtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,461 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Apple and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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

Apples
Provide the bulk of the filling and natural sweetness and moisture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the apple mixture so the custard sets firmly when baked.
Egg yolks
Enrich the custard and help it set into a smooth, tender texture.
Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that bakes into a light, lightly browned topping.
Pie crust
Forms the base that holds the custard while it bakes.

The step that matters

Spread the beaten egg whites over the baked custard and return to the oven until slightly browned.. Egg white foam deflates and can weep or brown unevenly if overbaked, so watch for just a light golden color. Beating to a light froth, not stiff peaks, keeps the topping tender.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. 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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