Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Savoury Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.
Add the stock and seasoning to the eggs and mix well.
Grease a small basin with butter.
Pour the mixture into the basin.
Cook
Steam gently for 20 minutes.
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 + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Set the custard as they coagulate with gentle heat, giving it a smooth, firm texture.
- Stock
- Provides the savory liquid base and moisture that the egg yolks set within.
The step that matters
Steam gently for 20 minutes. Egg proteins set at moderate temperatures. Steaming gently keeps the heat even and below boiling, so the custard stays smooth and tender rather than curdling, cracking or turning rubbery.
“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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