Why it works: Nutmeg and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,318 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Custard Pie
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.
Make the custard
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Beat the yolks of five eggs and the whites of three eggs together in a bowl.
Add one and a half pints of rich milk and one half cup of sugar to the egg mixture.
Season with nutmeg to taste and mix well.
Pour the mixture into a pie crust and bake until set.
Ice and finish
Beat two egg whites with two teaspoons of sugar and one teaspoon of lemon extract until stiff peaks form.
Spread the icing over the custard pie and return to the oven for a few minutes to lightly brown the icing.
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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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together14,685 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together24,744 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 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, giving it a rich, smooth body.
- Egg whites
- Add structure to the custard and, whipped with sugar, form the light icing.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base that sets with the eggs into a soft custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps the whipped egg white icing hold its stiff peaks.
The step that matters
Bake until set. Egg proteins coagulate as the custard heats, so it must be baked just until firm. Overbaking causes curdling and a weeping, grainy texture.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, sugar, lemon):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Dillfits less well
- Gingerfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sugar, lemon. 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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