Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Italian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Soak the gelatin in cold milk for ½ hour.
Bring the milk to a boil.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks and add the sugar and gelatin.
When the custard begins to thicken, remove it from heat.
Set and serve
Pour the mixture into a deep dish containing the beaten egg whites.
Mix well and flavor to taste.
Pour into molds and refrigerate for 4 hours to cool.
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Yolks thicken the custard and enrich it, while whites add lightness and airy texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the custard thickens and the gelatin sets.
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Remove the custard from heat when it begins to thicken. Egg yolks scramble and curdle when overheated, so the custard must be taken off the heat as soon as it starts to thicken, before it turns grainy.
“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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