Why it works: Milk and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,738 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓
Custards, Boiled
Ingredients
Directions
Infuse the milk
Put the milk in a lined saucepan with the sugar and your choice of flavoring (lemon rind is recommended).
Let the milk steep by the side of the fire until well infused.
Make the custard
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and gradually add the warm milk mixture, stirring constantly.
Pour the mixture into custard cups and place them in a steamer or a pot with simmering water.
Steam for about 20 minutes or until set.
Serve
Serve warm.
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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Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,738 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + laureltop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,339 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Milk + eggtop 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).
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
- Proteins set when heated, thickening the liquid into a firm, sliceable custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour and sets into a creamy texture when heated.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the savoury richness of the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Stop steaming when the custard is just set. Egg proteins keep tightening with continued heat. Overcooking makes the custard grainy, rubbery, or weepy, so remove the cups as soon as they are set.
“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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