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Dessert

Fried Cream

A sweet custard mixture of milk, cinnamon, flour, corn starch, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and butter, coated in egg and breadcrumbs and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Fried Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat 1 pint of milk with 1 stick of cinnamon in a double boiler.

  2. In a bowl, mix 1 tablespoon of flour, 2 tablespoons of corn starch, 4 cups of sugar, a pinch of salt, and 2 eggs.

  3. Add the milk mixture to the bowl and stir.

  4. Cook the mixture in the double boiler until very thick.

  5. Cover the mixture and cook for 15 minutes.

  6. Stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of butter.

Set and fry

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered shallow pan and let it set until firm.

  2. Cut the firm mixture into pieces.

  3. Coat the pieces with egg and breadcrumbs.

  4. Fry the coated pieces until brown.

  5. Serve with powdered sugar or a sauce.

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. Cinnamon + vanillatop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

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

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  5. Cinnamon + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Eggs
Bind the custard and, with breadcrumbs, form a coating that browns when fried.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk mixture so it sets firm enough to cut and fry.
Flour
Adds additional thickening to the custard base.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that thickens and sets.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps the coated pieces brown when fried.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the set custard.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until very thick. The custard must be thick enough to set firm when cooled. Starch thickens as it heats, but if it is undercooked the custard stays soft and will not hold its shape when cut and fried. Cooking gently in a double boiler helps prevent scorching and 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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