Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Orange Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
In a mortar, beat the boiled orange rind to a fine paste.
Add the juice of another orange, brandy, egg yolks, and sugar; mix well for 10 minutes.
Gradually pour in the boiling cream while beating until cold.
Set and serve
Pour the mixture into custard glasses.
Place the glasses in a dish of hot water and let them set.
Garnish with preserved orange or orange chips before serving.
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.
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,706 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,635 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
-
Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
-
Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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
- Thicken the cream as they set, giving the custard its smooth, rich body.
- Cream
- Provides fat and richness, and sets with the yolks into a soft, creamy texture.
- Seville orange juice
- Adds sharp acidity and bright citrus flavour to balance the sweetness.
- Seville orange rind
- Supplies aromatic oils and bitter citrus flavour from the peel.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the orange's acidity and bitterness.
The step that matters
Pouring in the boiling cream. Adding the cream gradually while beating keeps the hot cream from scrambling the egg yolks. Beating until cold also helps the mixture stay smooth as it cools and sets.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, egg, sugar, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, egg, sugar, cream. 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 orange custard recipes
You might also like
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes
Orange Gelatin100 recipes
Orange Sherbet73 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.