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Vanilla Cream Renversee

A vanilla custard set in a mold and inverted onto a platter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Vanilla Cream Renversee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cream

  1. Scald the cream over boiling water.

  2. If using a vanilla bean, split it and add it to the cream.

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat the egg and egg yolks.

  2. Add the sugar to the egg mixture.

  3. Stir the cream into the egg mixture.

  4. Scrape in the seeds from the vanilla bean, discarding the pod.

  5. Butter a mold that holds about 1 ½ pints.

  6. Pour the cream mixture into the mold.

Cook and chill

  1. Place the mold in a deep saucepan filled with hot water, about two-thirds the depth of the mold.

  2. Cover the saucepan.

  3. Keep it in a hot place without boiling.

  4. Shake the mold to check for stiffness.

  5. Touch the cream with your finger to check for stiffness.

  6. Chill the cream in the mold until ready to serve.

Serve

  1. Turn the custard out onto a platter or shallow glass dish.

  2. Pour over a rich vanilla custard or caramel.

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

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

Eggs
Egg proteins set when gently heated, giving the custard its firm structure.
Egg yolks
Yolks add richness and emulsifying fat, producing a smoother, more tender set.
Cream
Milk fat adds richness and a silky texture to the custard.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and eggs.

The step that matters

Keep the water below boiling during cooking. Egg proteins set gently between about 160 and 180°F. Boiling water heats the custard too fast, causing it to curdle, weep or turn grainy instead of setting 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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