Why it works: Egg and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 26% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,734 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓
Cup Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Assemble
Fill small glasses nearly to the top with cold custard.
Whip the egg whites until stiff.
Beat in the currant jelly until well combined.
Heap a tablespoon of the meringue on the surface of each glass.
Chill
Set in a cold place until ready to serve.
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.
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Egg + curranttop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,734 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped into a stiff meringue that tops each glass and gives a light, airy texture.
- Currant jelly
- Beaten into the egg whites to add sweetness and a fruity flavour.
- Cold custard
- Forms the creamy base that the meringue sits on in each glass.
The step that matters
Whip the egg whites until stiff. Egg whites must be beaten until they hold stiff peaks, because the foam's trapped air is what gives the meringue its light texture. Under-whipped whites will sink into the custard and turn out dense.
“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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