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Boiled Custards

A custard made by heating milk with spices, then whisking eggs and simmering until thick.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Boiled Custards

Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Boiled Custards

Ingredients

Directions

Infuse the milk

  1. Combine milk, lemon peel, nutmeg, bay leaf, and cinnamon in a stew-pan.

  2. Heat over high heat, being careful not to let it boil over.

  3. Remove from heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes.

Make the custard

  1. Beat egg yolks and whites together.

  2. Gradually pour warm milk into eggs while stirring quickly to prevent curdling.

  3. Return mixture to heat and stir with a wooden spoon until it just boils.

  4. Strain custard through a fine sieve.

Finish and serve

  1. Once cooled, add brandy or white wine to taste.

  2. Serve in glasses or cups.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Laurel + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together691 recipes

    Shared aroma: cinnamyl acetate (sweet aromatic, cinnamon).

  3. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Nutmeg + laureltop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together872 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the liquid base that thickens into a smooth, pourable custard.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as their proteins set gently with heat.
Lemon peel
Adds a bright citrus aroma to the milk.
Cinnamon
Adds a warm, spiced aroma to the milk.

The step that matters

Adding the warm milk to the eggs. Pour the warm milk into the eggs gradually while stirring quickly. Egg proteins set when heated, so adding hot milk too fast can scramble the yolks and curdle the custard. Gradual tempering raises their temperature evenly so the mixture thickens smoothly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, nutmeg, laurel, cinnamon, egg, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Figfits about as well
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Orangefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, nutmeg, laurel, cinnamon, egg, brandy. 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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