Name: Custard
Ingredients: eggs; milk; sugar; cream (optional); condensed milk (optional)

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 ↓

Custard

Ingredients

Directions

In a saucepan, combine eggs and milk. Stir in sugar to taste.
Heat the mixture gently in a double boiler or a jug set in warm water, stirring continuously until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.
Alternatively, boil the milk, then add it to the beaten eggs, stirring to combine. Heat gently until thickened.
For a richer custard, beat eggs and cream together, then add boiling milk while mixing well. Cook over low heat until thickened.
Stir occasionally while cooling and store in a cool place.

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.

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 pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Sugar + condensed milktop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together804 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + condensed milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together416 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).