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Dessert

Caramel Custard Puddings

A sweet dessert of caramel-coated custard puddings made with milk, eggs, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Caramel Custard Puddings

six small dariole moulds

Ingredients

Directions

Make the caramel

  1. Melt the sugar in a pan until it browns.

  2. Add the cold water and boil until it reaches a nice brown color.

  3. Pour the caramel into six small dariole moulds, ensuring it coats every part.

Make the custard

  1. Boil the milk and add sugar, then flavor with vanilla.

  2. When cool, pour the milk mixture onto the beaten egg yolks.

  3. Fill the moulds with the custard mixture.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam the puddings for 15 to 20 minutes.

  2. Turn out the puddings.

  3. Serve hot or cold.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

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

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
Yolks thicken the custard and give it a set, tender structure.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and creamy texture of the custard.
Lump sugar
Melts and browns to form the caramel that coats the moulds, adding sweetness and flavor.

The step that matters

Boil the sugar to a nice brown color. Sugar caramelizes in a narrow window: too pale tastes flat, while overbrowning turns bitter. Watch the color closely and remove it from heat once it reaches a rich brown.

“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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