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 ↓
Burnt Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Beat the eggs until very light and mix in 6 tablespoons of sugar.
Bring the milk to a boil.
Stir in the egg mixture while on the heat. Continue stirring until combined.
Remove from heat and let cool.
Top and brown
Beat the egg whites to a froth. Spread the froth over the custard.
Sift white sugar thickly over the egg whites.
Hold a hot broiler over the bowl until the sugar and egg whites are browned.
Let cool before serving.
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
- Thicken the milk into a custard and provide the structure that holds it set.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the sweetness and richness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and, when sifted on top, caramelizes under the broiler.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a froth to form a light layer that browns under the heat.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg mixture into the hot milk. Eggs thicken when heated, but if they get too hot too fast they can scramble into lumps. Keeping the milk hot while stirring constantly blends the eggs in smoothly, so the custard sets evenly.
“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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