Why it works: Milk and laurel are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,339 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓
Custard Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil the milk with the bruised laurel leaf.
Pour the boiling milk over the well-beaten egg.
Sweeten with sugar and pour into a basin.
Cover with a round of greased paper.
Steam and serve
Steam gently in a saucepan of boiling water until firm in the center.
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.
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Milk + laureltop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,339 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Laurel + eggtop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,883 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and gives it a soft, creamy body.
- Egg
- Sets with gentle heat to give the pudding its firm, sliceable structure.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and softens the set custard's flavor.
The step that matters
Steam gently until firm in the center. Egg proteins set at moderate temperatures, so a vigorous boil can make the custard full of holes or rubbery. Gentle steaming keeps it smooth and tender while it firms.
“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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