Why it works: Corn and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Orange Custard
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the custard
Mix corn starch with a little cold milk.
Beat the egg yolks and combine with the corn starch mixture.
Heat 1 quart of milk to boiling.
Stir in the corn starch and egg yolk mixture until it thickens.
Prepare the oranges
Cut the oranges into pieces.
Place the orange pieces in a dish and sprinkle sugar over them.
Once the custard is partially cool, pour it over the oranges.
Make the meringue and bake
Beat the egg whites until foamy.
Gradually add 1 cup of sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
Spread the meringue over the custard.
Place the dish in a pan of cold water.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until the meringue is browned.
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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Corn + milktop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Corn + orangetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together586 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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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).
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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they set and add richness and colour.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk mixture so the custard holds its shape.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a foam that forms the meringue topping and browns in the oven.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard.
- Oranges
- Provide the fruit flavour and acidity beneath the custard.
The step that matters
Stir the custard until it thickens. Cornstarch thickens only when the mixture reaches a boil and is stirred constantly, and the egg yolks can scramble if overheated. Stirring keeps the starch from clumping and the yolks smooth.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, milk, egg, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Coconutfits better
- Figfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against corn, milk, egg, 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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