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Dessert

Russian Cream

A custard dessert made with milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and isinglass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Russian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Soak the isinglass in cold water for 2 hours.

  2. In a double boiler, heat the milk until scalded.

  3. Beat the egg yolks and mix in the sugar.

  4. Pour the hot milk over the egg yolks and sugar, stirring well.

Make the custard

  1. Return the mixture to the double boiler, drain the isinglass, and add it to the milk mixture, stirring until it thickens.

  2. Stir in the vanilla extract and let it cool until partially set.

  3. Whisk the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the custard.

Mold and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into molds rinsed with cold water and place them on ice.

  2. To serve, loosen the edges, invert onto a small platter, and gently shake to release.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 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 vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Milk
Forms the creamy body of the custard once heated and thickened.
Eggs
Yolks thicken and enrich the custard; whites are whipped to add lightness.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the cream so it holds its molded shape.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and helps balance the richness of the eggs and milk.

The step that matters

Adding the isinglass and stirring until it thickens. Isinglass must be fully dissolved and evenly distributed in warm custard, or it will set unevenly. Heating the egg mixture gently, while stirring, keeps the yolks from scrambling as the mixture thickens and sets.

“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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