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Lemon Custard

A custard made with eggs, sugar, butter, water, corn starch, and lemon flavor.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Lemon Custard

Why it works: Corn and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,927 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Lemon Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the egg yolks and set aside the whites.

  2. Slice the lemons and boil them in water until the flavor is extracted.

  3. Remove the lemons and drain the water.

Make the custard

  1. Mix the butter and sugar with the yolks, then pour the lemon-infused water over them.

  2. Return the mixture to the heat and stir in the corn starch when ready to boil.

  3. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks and gently fold them into the mixture after removing it from the heat.

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. Corn + lemontop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,927 recipes

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

  2. Butter + corntop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,345 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard as they set, and whites are folded in for a lighter texture.
Corn starch
Swells with heat to thicken the custard into a smooth, sliceable body.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the custard.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the sharpness of the lemon.
Lemons
Provide the main lemon flavor and aroma, infused into the water.

The step that matters

Adding the corn starch at the boil. Corn starch must reach a boil to fully swell and thicken. Adding it too early or stirring poorly can leave the custard thin or lumpy, while overheating can cause it to break or scorch.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, butter, corn. 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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