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Dessert

Rich Custard

A thickened custard made from egg yolks, sugar, milk, and flavored with vanilla or other flavoring.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Rich Custard

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Rich Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Warm the milk with the sugar in it.

  2. Whisk the warm milk into the beaten egg yolks.

  3. Return the mixture to the pan.

  4. Stir with a wooden spoon over low heat until it thickens on the spoon.

Finish and cool

  1. Strain the custard into a cold bowl.

  2. Stir frequently until cool.

  3. Add the flavoring.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Egg yolks
Their proteins set as the custard heats, thickening it and giving it body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base and provides moisture and a creamy texture.
Castor sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the set custard's taste.
Vanilla or other flavoring
Adds aroma and flavour to the finished custard.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat until it thickens on the spoon. Egg yolk proteins set when heated, so high heat can curdle the custard into lumps. Gentle heat and constant stirring let it thicken smoothly, and it is ready when it coats the back of the spoon.

“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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