Why it works: Cinnamon and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,341 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Beest Custards
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Heat the milk with cinnamon or bay leaves until boiling hot.
Remove from heat and mix in flour and thick cream gradually.
Stir well and sweeten to taste.
Bake
Bake in crusts or cups as desired.
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.
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Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together17,341 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Cinnamon + sugartop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cinnamon and sugar 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that thickens and sets into the custard.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk as its starch swells when heated, giving body to the custard.
- Thick cream
- Adds fat for a richer, smoother texture and a softer mouthfeel.
- Cinnamon or bay leaves
- Infuse the milk with aroma as it heats.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness, adjusted to taste.
The step that matters
Add the flour and cream gradually off the heat. Starch granules clump when they hit hot liquid all at once. Mixing gradually off the heat disperses them evenly, so the custard thickens smoothly instead of turning lumpy.
Swap the cinnamon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, cream, sugar):
- Cinnamonthe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Jalapenofits less well
- Turmericfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, cream, sugar. 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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