Why it works: Egg and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Raspberry Custards
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub the raspberries through a sieve to remove the seeds.
Stir the cornflour and milk together until smooth.
Make the custard
Add the raspberry puree, egg, and sugar if desired.
Stir over gentle heat until thickened, but do not let it boil.
Cool and serve
Set aside to cool, then pour into custard glasses and 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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Thickens the custard as it heats and sets it into a soft, creamy body.
- Cornflour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth custard when heated gently.
- Raspberries
- Provide the fruit flavour, colour and body in the custard.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base that thickens into the custard.
The step that matters
Stir over gentle heat until thickened, but do not let it boil.. Cornflour thickens as its starch swells with heat, but boiling can break down the thickener and the egg may curdle, leaving a thin or grainy custard.
“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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