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Savoury Custard

A steamed custard made with egg yolks, egg white, salt, cayenne pepper, and stock, baked in a buttered mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Savoury Custard

Why it works: Egg and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓

Savoury Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Combine egg yolks, egg white, salt, and cayenne pepper in a bowl.

  2. Beat the mixture well.

  3. Add the stock and mix until combined.

  4. Strain the custard mixture into the mold.

Steam and cool

  1. Butter a flat-bottomed mold.

  2. Cover the top of the mold with paper.

  3. Steam for 10 minutes, ensuring it does not boil too fast.

  4. Let the custard cool.

Serve

  1. Cut into dice or star shapes when ready to serve.

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. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  2. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  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 yolks
Set the custard into a firm, sliceable texture as they coagulate on gentle heat.
Egg white
Adds protein that helps the custard set and hold its shape when cut.
Stock
Supplies the liquid base that gives the custard its savoury flavour and moisture.

The step that matters

Steam gently for 10 minutes. Egg proteins set smoothly at moderate heat. If the water boils hard, the steam is too aggressive, causing bubbles, holes, or a curdled, rubbery custard instead of a smooth, firm one.

“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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