Why it works: Cinnamon and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓
Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil the cream with cinnamon, sugar, and lemon rind.
Let it cool.
Add the beaten egg yolks and stir over low heat until thickened.
Do not let it boil after adding the eggs.
Add vanilla extract to taste.
Serve
Once cool, transfer to a dish for 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.
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.
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Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,287 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
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Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together7,950 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Cream
- Provides richness and a smooth, creamy body once set.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they gently set with heat.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and eggs.
- Lemon rind
- Adds bright citrus aroma infused into the hot cream.
The step that matters
Do not let it boil after adding the eggs. Egg yolks scramble when they get too hot, turning the custard grainy and lumpy instead of smooth. Stirring over low heat until it just thickens keeps the texture silky.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, cinnamon, sugar, egg, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, cinnamon, sugar, egg, vanilla. 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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