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Dessert

Rhubarb with Custard

A dessert of boiled rhubarb served with a sweetened custard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Rhubarb and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 276 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Rhubarb with Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the rhubarb

  1. Boil 1 lb of chopped rhubarb in boiling water for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.

  2. Add ½ cup of crushed loaf sugar.

  3. Add a few drops of essence of lemon.

  4. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.

  5. Let the mixture cool for several hours.

Make the custard

  1. Beat the yolks of 2 eggs in ½ pint of milk.

  2. Pour the mixture into a small saucepan.

  3. Sweeten the custard to taste.

  4. Add 2 drops of essence of vanilla.

  5. Stir over low heat until thickened, but do not let it boil.

  6. Let the custard cool.

Serve

  1. Dip the mold in hot water.

  2. Turn the rhubarb onto a glass dish.

  3. Pour the custard around the rhubarb.

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.

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. Rhubarb + vanillatop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together276 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

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

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Rhubarb + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together546 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

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

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

Rhubarb
Provides the tart fruit base that the sweet custard balances.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the rhubarb, softening its sharp acidity.
Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the milk into a custard as they gently set.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it a smooth, creamy texture.

The step that matters

Stir the custard over low heat. Egg yolks begin to set around 70°C and curdle if overheated, so the custard must be stirred gently over low heat and never boiled to stay smooth and thick.

Swap the rhubarb

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, lemon, egg, milk, vanilla, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Rhubarbthe original
  4. Peppermintfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, lemon, egg, milk, vanilla, butter. 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.

More rhubarb custard recipes

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