Name: Vert Good Old-faskionded Boiled Custard
Ingredients: 1½ pints (6 cups) of new milk; rind of 1 fresh lemon; 4½ ounces (½ cup) of white sugar; 14 fresh egg yolks; ½ pint (2 cups) of new milk; ⅓ cup of good brandy (optional); 2 ounces of blanched almonds, cut into spikes (optional); less than ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')

Why it works: Lemon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,655 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Vert Good Old-faskionded Boiled Custard

Ingredients

1½ pints (6 cups) of new milk
rind of 1 fresh lemon
4½ ounces (½ cup) of white sugar
14 fresh egg yolks
½ pint (2 cups) of new milk
⅓ cup of good brandy (optional)
2 ounces of blanched almonds, cut into spikes (optional)
less than ¼ teaspoon of coarse sea salt (formerly 'bay salt')

Directions

Prepare the milk

Combine 1½ pints of milk and the lemon rind in a pot.
Let the mixture infuse for 30 minutes.
Simmer the milk and lemon rind together for a few minutes.
Add the sugar.

Make the custard

Beat the yolks of 14 eggs in a bowl.
Mix the beaten yolks with ½ pint of milk.
Stir the boiling milk quickly into the egg mixture.
Remove the lemon peel.
Pour the custard into a deep jug.
Place the jug over boiling water in a pan.
Stir the custard gently and continuously until it thickens.
Once thickened, stir more quickly, ensuring the spoon touches the bottom.
Remove from heat just before boiling to prevent curdling.

Finish and serve

Pour the custard into a bowl and stir until nearly cold.
Gradually add the brandy and blanched almonds, if using.

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.

Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,655 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,738 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,800 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Brandy + almondtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,969 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

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, and add richness.
Milk: Forms the liquid base that the yolks thicken into a smooth custard.
White sugar: Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the yolks and milk.
Lemon rind: Infuses the milk with aromatic lemon flavour before being removed.
Brandy: Adds a warm aroma and flavour to the finished custard.

The step that matters

Stir the custard gently and continuously until it thickens. Egg yolks set at around 70°C and can scramble or curdle if they overheat or sit still. Constant gentle stirring over indirect heat spreads the heat evenly, and removing the custard just before boiling keeps it smooth.