Why it works: Milk and currant are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,475 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓
Floating Island
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Sweeten the milk to your taste and add wine if desired.
Whisk the egg whites until they form a dry froth.
Add 1 teaspoon of jelly and 1 teaspoon of sugar to each egg white.
Assemble and serve
Pile the froth on top of the sweetened milk and serve immediately.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + curranttop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together5,475 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Currant + quincetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together91 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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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 + quincetop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together104 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 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
- Egg whites
- Whisked into a dry froth that holds its shape and forms the floating island.
- Milk
- Forms the sweetened liquid base that the froth rests on.
- Jelly
- Adds fruity sweetness and acidity to each portion.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the froth and helps stabilise the whisked egg white foam.
The step that matters
Whisking the egg whites to a dry froth. Under-whisked whites are runny and sink into the milk, while over-whisked whites turn grainy and collapse. Stopping at a stiff, dry froth lets the foam hold its shape on the milk.
Swap the quince
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, egg, currant, sugar):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits better
- Quincethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, currant, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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