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Dessert

Angel Parfait

A chilled dessert made from boiled corn syrup, egg whites, heavy cream, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Corn and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,943 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Angel Parfait

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup and egg whites

  1. Boil corn syrup and water until it threads when dropped from a spoon.

  2. Pour the syrup slowly onto the beaten egg whites while continuing to beat until cool.

Fold and freeze

  1. Add the stiffly beaten cream and vanilla, then pack the mixture in ice and salt.

  2. Freeze without stirring.

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. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Syrup + creamtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

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

  5. Corn + syruptop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,678 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Cream and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 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

Corn syrup
Adds sweetness and softness, and interferes with ice crystals so the frozen dessert stays smooth.
Egg whites
Whipped into a foam that traps air, giving the parfait its light, airy structure.
Heavy cream
Whipped into a stiff foam that adds richness and a creamy, airy body.

The step that matters

Pouring the syrup onto the egg whites. The syrup must be hot enough to thread, and it should be poured slowly while beating. Hot syrup partly cooks the whites and stabilizes the foam; pouring it too fast can deflate the foam or leave cooked lumps.

“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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