Name: Cheese Custard a LA Royale
Ingredients: 1½ cups milk; 2 whole eggs; 2 tablespoons cream; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon white pepper; ¼ teaspoon mace; 1 tablespoon finely grated Parmesan cheese

Why it works: White pepper and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,695 recipes. Both carry myrcene, which smells balsamic, herbaceous. The science ↓

Cheese Custard a LA Royale

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the custard

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In a bowl, combine milk, eggs, cream, salt, white pepper, and mace.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.
Stir in the grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake and serve

Pour the mixture into buttered ramekins, filling them three-quarters full.
Poach the ramekins in a water bath until set.
Serve as a garnish for clear soups.

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.

White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,695 recipes

Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
Milk + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,608 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
Cream + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,566 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).
Milk + macetop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,346 recipes

Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Set the custard into a firm, sliceable texture as they cook.
Milk: Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into a delicate custard.
Cream: Adds richness and a softer, smoother mouthfeel to the custard.
Parmesan cheese: Adds savory, salty flavor and a little body to the custard.

The step that matters

Poach in a water bath until set. Eggs thicken gently between about 70 and 85°C, so high heat or boiling water can make the custard grainy, pockmarked, or curdled. A gentle water bath keeps the texture smooth and even.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, cream, mace, parmesan cheese):

Nutmegfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Celeryfits about as well
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, cream, mace, parmesan cheese. 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.

Cheese Balls97 recipes

Cheese Cake55 recipes

Cream Cheese46 recipes

Lemon Pie37 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The 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.

Cheese Custard a LA Royale