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Dessert

Lemon Custard

A custard made with egg yolks, lemon, wine, brandy, and beaten egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Lemon Custard

Why it works: Wine and brandy are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,427 recipes. Both carry gamma-nonanolactone, which smells coconut, sweet. The science ↓

Lemon Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs until they are white.

  2. Add boiling water, grated lemon rinds, and sweeten with sugar to taste.

  3. Stir this mixture over heat until it thickens.

  4. Add the wine and brandy, then bring to a boil.

  5. Pour into glasses and let cool.

Make the lemon variation

  1. For a variation, mix lemon juice and rinds in warm water with sugar to taste.

  2. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, then beat in the yolks.

  3. Gradually add the lemon mixture while beating.

  4. Place in a pot of boiling water and stir until thick as custard.

  5. Strain into a deep dish and cool on ice 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.

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. Wine + brandytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,427 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  2. Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,157 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,340 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).

  4. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  5. Egg + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
Coagulate when heated, thickening the custard into a set, smooth texture.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and lighten the variation's texture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity and bright citrus flavour that balances the sweetness.
Rich wine
Adds body, moisture and depth of flavour to the custard.
Brandy
Contributes aroma and a warm, spirited flavour to the custard.

The step that matters

Stir over heat until it thickens. Egg yolk proteins set as they warm, so the custard thickens gently. If it gets too hot or is stirred too little, the yolks can scramble and curdle.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, wine, brandy):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Apricotfits better
  3. Applefits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, wine, brandy. 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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