Name: Almond Custard
Ingredients: 1 quart milk; 6 eggs; 2 teaspoons Allinson cornflour; ⅓ cup rosewater; sugar to taste; ½ lb ground almonds

Why it works: Milk and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,800 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

Boil the milk with sugar and ground almonds.
Smooth the cornflour with the rosewater.
Stir the cornflour mixture into the boiling milk and let it boil for 1 minute.
Beat the eggs.
Reserve 3 egg whites to be beaten to stiff peaks.
Let the milk cool slightly.
Gradually stir in the eggs, being careful not to curdle them.
Stir over low heat until the custard is nearly boiling.

Cool and serve

Let the custard cool, stirring occasionally.
Pour the custard into a glass dish.
Top with the whipped egg whites just 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.

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.

Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,800 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together15,679 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together77,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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: Thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat, and their whites add a light topping.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the custard, giving it body and a soft, creamy texture.
Allinson cornflour: Thickens the milk when boiled, giving the custard a smooth, sliceable body.
Ground almonds: Add nutty flavour and fat, enriching the custard and adding body to its texture.
Rosewater: Adds a floral aroma that flavours the custard.

The step that matters

Gradually stir in the eggs, being careful not to curdle them. Eggs proteins set at around 70 to 80°C, so adding them to hot milk too quickly or over high heat can scramble them into lumps. Tempering with warm milk first and stirring over low heat keeps the custard smooth.