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Dessert

American Cream

A gelatin-based custard dessert made with milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

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

American Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Dissolve gelatin in milk.

  2. Heat the mixture until it boils.

  3. Beat egg yolks with 6 tablespoons of sugar until well combined.

  4. Add the beaten yolks to the boiling milk.

Finish and serve

  1. Beat egg whites with 5 tablespoons of sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form.

  2. Remove the milk from heat.

  3. Fold in the egg whites.

  4. Pour into a mold.

  5. Serve with 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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Gelatin + vanillatop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together924 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

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

Gelatin
Sets the milk mixture into a firm, sliceable body as it cools.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the gelatin and yolks set into a cream.
Egg yolks
Thicken and enrich the base, adding richness and a smooth texture.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they add lightness and airy volume to the cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the dish and helps stabilise the whipped egg whites.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Whipped whites hold air that gives the dessert its lightness. Stirring them vigorously or adding them to mixture that is too hot can deflate the foam, so fold gently and remove the milk from heat first.

“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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