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Gooseberry Trifle

A layered dessert of gooseberries with custard and whipped cream.

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

Gooseberry Trifle

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gooseberries

  1. Scald the gooseberries, press them through a sieve, and add sugar to taste.

  2. Layer the gooseberry mixture at the bottom of a dish.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, mix the milk, cream, and egg yolks; scald over low heat while stirring.

  2. Add a small amount of sugar and let the mixture cool.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pour the cooled mixture over the gooseberries and top with whipped cream.

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

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

  2. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and milk 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

Gooseberries
Provide the tart fruit base and flavour that the sweetened custard sits on.
Egg yolks
Thicken the milk and cream into a smooth custard when gently heated.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a silky, creamy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, diluting the richness of the cream.
Whipped cream
Forms a light, airy topping that contrasts with the smooth custard beneath.

The step that matters

Scald the custard over low heat while stirring. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat; if the mixture gets too hot or is not stirred, the yolks can scramble and curdle, leaving a grainy custard.

“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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