Why it works: Cinnamon and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,514 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Common Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil a little cinnamon in 1 pint of new milk.
Remove from heat and mix in sugar to taste.
If using, add blanched and finely chopped bitter almonds.
If desired, add more milk and test the mixture in the oven before baking.
Bake and serve
Bake in raised crusts or dishes lined with custard paste.
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.
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Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,514 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Cinnamon and sugar 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
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base whose proteins set into a creamy custard.
- Eggs
- Coagulate when heated, setting the custard into a firm but tender texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the flavour of the milk.
- Cinnamon
- Adds warm aroma as it is boiled in the milk.
- Bitter almonds
- Add a nutty, bitter almond aroma.
The step that matters
Test the mixture in the oven before baking. Egg proteins set with heat, so a custard that is overheated or overbaked can curdle and turn grainy. A small test shows whether the mixture sets smoothly before the full batch is baked.
“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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