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 ↓
Custard Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the egg yolks in a jug.
Add the milk and sugar, and stir well.
Place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water.
Let it boil until the spoon is coated with custard.
Transfer to another vessel immediately to prevent spoilage.
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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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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, giving it body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the egg yolks thicken into a pourable sauce.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the yolks and milk.
The step that matters
Let it boil until the spoon is coated with custard. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with heat, but overheating can curdle them. Stop once the custard coats the spoon, then transfer it promptly to avoid overcooking.
“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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