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Dessert

Custard Pudding

A pudding of cream, sugar, cinnamon and eggs, thickened on the stove and then boiled in a basin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Custard Pudding

Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the cream in a saucepan until boiling.

  2. Add the cinnamon and sugar.

  3. Let the mixture cool.

  4. Once cool, mix in the beaten egg yolks.

  5. Stir the mixture over low heat until thick, but do not let it boil.

  6. Pour the mixture into a basin.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil for 45 minutes.

  2. Serve with grated sugar on top.

  3. Serve with melted butter mixed with a little wine.

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.

  1. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together30,779 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  4. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cream + cinnamontop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,510 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Sugar and cinnamon 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

Eggs
Egg proteins set as the custard heats, giving it a firm, thick body.
Thick cream
Adds fat and richness, creating a smooth, velvety texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the cream and eggs.
Ground cinnamon
Adds warm aroma and flavour to the custard.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat without boiling. Egg proteins set and curdle when overheated, so gentle heat and constant stirring keep the custard smooth and thick rather than grainy.

Swap the cinnamon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, egg):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonthe original
  3. Tarragonfits less well
  4. Gingerfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, egg. 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.

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