Skip to main content
Dessert

Boiled Custards

A custard made by steeping milk with sugar and flavorings, then adding eggs and simmering gently.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Boiled Custards

Why it works: Laurel and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 872 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Boiled Custards

Ingredients

Directions

Flavour the milk

  1. Combine milk, sugar, and lemon rind or flavoring in a lined saucepan. Let steep over the fire until well flavored.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil, then strain the milk into a basin.

Make the custard

  1. Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl. When the milk has cooled slightly, stir in the eggs and strain the mixture into a jug.

  2. Place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water. Stir the custard continuously until it thickens, but do not let it boil.

  3. Remove from heat, stir in the brandy, and mix well.

Serve

  1. Pour the custard into glasses, filling each about three-quarters full. Grate a little nutmeg on top before serving.

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. Laurel + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together872 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Brandy + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,311 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  5. Milk + laureltop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,339 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Egg proteins thicken the custard as they gently set with heat.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into a smooth custard.
Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the flavour of the custard.
Brandy
Adds aroma and a warm flavour note stirred in after cooking.

The step that matters

Stir the custard over water without boiling. Egg proteins set with gentle heat, and boiling can curdle the eggs and make the custard grainy. Stirring continuously helps heat it evenly, and removing it from the heat once thickened keeps it smooth.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Clovefits about as well
  4. Allspicefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, sugar, laurel, brandy. 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.

More boiled custard recipes

Pudding 12Rich 6 See all 257 →

You might also like

Brandy PeachesBrandy Peaches68 recipesBrandy CreamBrandy Cream21 recipesBrandy PuddingBrandy Pudding13 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipes