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Custard for Profiteroles, Pastry, Etc

A custard made with flour, egg yolk, butter, sugar, milk, vanilla, and whipped cream, used as a filling for profiteroles and pastries.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Custard for Profiteroles, Pastry, Etc

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, combine flour, egg yolk, butter, castor sugar, and cold milk.

  2. Stir over medium heat until the mixture boils.

  3. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Finish and serve

  1. Fold in whipped cream gently and serve.

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.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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 yolk
Thickens the custard as it heats and adds richness to the texture.
Fine flour
Thickens the mixture with starch as it boils, giving the custard body.
Butter
Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel in the custard.
Castor sugar
Sweetens the custard and dissolves smoothly into the hot milk.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the flour and yolk thicken into custard.
Whipped cream
Adds lightness and a soft, airy texture when folded in.

The step that matters

Stir until the mixture boils. Flour starch needs to reach a boil to thicken fully. Stopping early leaves a thin custard, while stirring constantly over medium heat prevents the egg yolk and milk from scorching or curdling on the base of the pan.

“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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