Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Common Custard
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Beat the eggs until light.
Stir the eggs into the milk.
Sweeten to taste and add the flavoring and salt.
Grease a baking dish or basin with butter.
Bake
Pour the custard into the prepared dish.
Grate a little nutmeg over the top.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) until set.
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 + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + peachtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together781 recipes
Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
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Peach + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together342 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Peach + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together860 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 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
- Set the custard as they cook, giving it structure and a smooth, tender body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard, supplying moisture and richness.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Egg proteins coagulate as the custard heats, so it needs enough time to firm up. Overbaking, however, causes the eggs to curdle and weep, leaving a grainy texture. Pull it out once the centre just wobbles.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, peach, butter):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits less well
- Parsleyfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, peach, butter. 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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