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Dessert

Arrowroot in a Mould, with Macaroons

A custard made from arrowroot, sugar, candied fruit, cream, milk, and macaroons, set in a mould.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Arrowroot in a Mould, with Macaroons

Ingredients

Directions

Make the arrowroot mixture

  1. Heat the cream and half of the milk in a double boiler until hot.

  2. Mix the arrowroot smooth in the remaining milk, then add the sugar and vanilla.

  3. Stir the arrowroot mixture into the hot cream and cook until thick like mush.

  4. Stir in the candied fruit, cutting larger pieces if necessary.

Mould and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mould that has been wet with cold water.

  2. Once cold, turn it out onto a platter and decorate with whole macaroons.

  3. Serve with thick boiled custard poured around it.

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 + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together98,233 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Arrowroot
Thickens the milk and cream into a firm, sliceable set mould.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the mould.
Sugar
Sweetens the mould and balances its mild flavour.
Candied fruit
Adds chewy pieces and concentrated sweetness throughout the mould.
Macaroons
Provide crisp, almond-flavoured contrast as a decorative finish.

The step that matters

Cook the arrowroot until thick. Arrowroot must be fully heated to thicken; if it is undercooked the mixture stays thin and will not set firm when cold.

Swap the arrowroot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, milk, butter):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Arrowrootthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, milk, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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