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Custard, Savoury

A baked custard made with egg, milk, salt, pepper, and a concentrated food extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Custard, Savoury

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the custard mixture

  1. Beat the egg in a bowl.

  2. Add salt and pepper to taste.

  3. Dissolve the concentrated food extract in the warm milk.

  4. Pour the milk mixture over the egg and mix well.

  5. Strain into a greased mold or small pie dish.

Bake or steam

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven in a water bath for about 30 minutes, or cover with greased paper and steam slowly for about 1 hour.

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.

  1. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

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

Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 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
Its proteins set when heated, giving the custard its structure and body.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and softness as the custard sets.
Concentrated food extract
Adds concentrated flavor to the custard.

The step that matters

Bake or steam gently. Egg proteins set at moderate heat. Too much heat makes the custard curdle, weep, or turn rubbery. A water bath or slow steaming moderates the heat and keeps the texture smooth.

“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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