Why it works: Cinnamon and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,611 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓
Cherry Custard
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the cherries
Stone the cherries.
Cut the stalks off the cherries.
Place cherries in a saucepan with loaf sugar over low heat until nearly cooked.
Drain the cherries.
Strain the syrup and boil it until thick.
Add a quarter of the cherries to the syrup and boil until it foams.
Make the custard
Boil the cinnamon and mace in the milk.
Beat the eggs with caster sugar.
Stir over low heat until thick without boiling.
Strain the milk into the egg mixture.
Stir for a few minutes off the heat.
Bake and serve
Place the drained cherries in a pie dish.
Pour the custard over the cherries.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Pour the remaining cherries and syrup over the custard.
Serve.
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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Cinnamon + macetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).
-
Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Milk + macetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,346 recipes
Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Cherries
- Provide the fruit base, sweetness and tart flavour that the custard sits on.
- Eggs
- Their proteins set as they heat, thickening the milk into a custard.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy body of the custard and carries the cinnamon and mace flavour.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the cherries and thickens the syrup as it reduces.
The step that matters
Stir the custard over low heat without boiling. Egg proteins set gently at moderate heat. If the custard boils, the eggs overcook and curdle, leaving it grainy instead of smooth and thick.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, cinnamon):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, cinnamon. 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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