Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Bavarian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gelatin and cream
Soak the gelatin in 1 cup of milk.
Scald 1½ pints of cream in a double boiler.
Stir and dissolve the gelatin in the hot cream.
Add 1¼ teaspoons of coarse sea salt and keep hot.
Make the custard base
Beat the yolks of 4 eggs until thick and foamy.
Add 1 cup of sugar to the yolks and beat well.
Slowly pour the hot cream and gelatin into the yolks while whipping steadily.
Continue to whip until very light and cold.
Fold and set
Have an assistant whip the 4 egg whites until stiff.
Fold the whipped egg whites into the cream mixture until frothy.
Add flavoring and pour into molds that have been wet with cold water.
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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Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,628 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,778 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatin
- Sets the cream into a firm, sliceable dessert as it cools.
- Heavy cream
- Provides richness and a smooth, creamy mouthfeel.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and thicken the custard, adding richness and body.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to foam, they lighten the texture of the set cream.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.
The step that matters
Pouring the hot cream into the yolks. Pouring hot cream in too fast, or without whisking, can scramble the yolks into lumps. Pour slowly while whipping steadily so the yolks warm gently and the custard stays smooth.
“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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