Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Caramel Pudding Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
In a saucepan, combine castor sugar and enough water to moisten it.
Cook the mixture until the sugar turns a dark color.
Quickly pour the caramel into a mold, coating the sides, and dip the mold in cold water to set the caramel.
Make and steam the custard
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and cream.
Pour the custard mixture into the prepared mold.
Place the mold in a saucepan filled with boiling water halfway up the sides of the mold.
Cover the mold with buttered paper and place a lid on the saucepan.
Steam the custard for about 20 minutes.
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.
-
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Set the custard into a tender, creamy structure as they cook.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, giving the custard a smooth, soft texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and, when cooked to a dark color, forms the caramel coating.
The step that matters
Cook the sugar to a dark caramel. Sugar darkens quickly once it starts to colour, and it can go from amber to bitter or burnt in seconds. Removing it from heat at the right moment gives a rich flavour without bitterness.
“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 caramel custard recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 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.