Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Bavarian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil the milk in a saucepan.
Beat the egg yolks.
Stir the beaten yolks into the boiling milk.
Dissolve the gelatin in a little hot water.
Add the dissolved gelatin to the mixture.
Add the whites and cream
Beat the egg whites separately.
Fold the beaten whites into the mixture when cool.
Whip cream until fluffy.
Fold the whipped cream into the mixture.
Flavor to taste.
Set
Pour into molds.
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.
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Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,778 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + gelatintop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,054 recipes
Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken the milk into a custard, and whites whipped separately lighten the cream.
- Gelatin
- Sets the cooled mixture so it holds its shape when unmolded.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Stir the beaten yolks into the boiling milk. Adding hot milk too quickly or unevenly can scramble the yolks, leaving lumps. Stirring steadily while pouring in the yolks tempers them so the custard thickens smoothly.
“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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