Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓
Caramel Custard Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Cook the water, dark brown sugar, white sugar, and butter together to make a thin syrup.
Moisten the cornstarch with a little water and beat it with the egg yolks.
Pour the boiling syrup into the egg yolk mixture and cook until thickened.
Add vanilla extract and pour the mixture into a baked pastry shell.
Top and bake
Cover with meringue and return the pie to the oven to brown.
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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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,050 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 and add richness and a smooth texture when cooked.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the syrup-and-yolk mixture so the custard sets firm when cooled.
- Dark brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and caramel flavor to the syrup, giving the filling its color.
- Butter
- Adds fat and rich flavor to the syrup.
The step that matters
Pour the boiling syrup into the egg yolk mixture. Cornstarch thickens only when heated enough to swell and gelatinize, so the mixture must be cooked until it thickens. Pouring the hot syrup slowly while whisking helps keep the yolks from scrambling.
“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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