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 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Prepare
Beat the eggs until light.
Mix in the milk and sweeten to taste.
Add the peach water or lemon extract and salt.
Grease a baking dish or tin basin with butter.
Bake
Pour the mixture into the dish and sprinkle nutmeg on top.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 30-40 minutes.
Check for doneness by inserting a teaspoon handle; it should come out clean.
Alternatively, pour the mixture into small cups and place them in a shallow pan of hot water.
Keep the water boiling until the custard is 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.
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + peachtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together781 recipes
Shared aroma: phellandrene (minty).
-
Peach + nutmegtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together342 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Peach + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together860 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
-
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 into a firm, sliceable texture as they cook.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and moisture that the eggs set into custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the custard base.
- Peach water or lemon extract
- Adds aroma and flavour to the custard.
The step that matters
Check for doneness. Egg proteins set gradually as they heat. Overbaking or overcooking makes custard curdled, grainy and watery, so test it with the teaspoon handle before it is fully firm.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, sugar, peach, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegthe original
- Gingerfits less well
- Clovefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, sugar, 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.
More custard recipes
You might also like
Peach Ice Cream64 recipes
Peach Fritters55 recipes
Peach Meringue40 recipes
Peach Ice16 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.