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Cream for Saint Honores, Charlottes-Russes, Et Bavarois

A custard-like cream made with sugar, milk, egg yolks, egg whites, vanilla sugar, and gelatin.

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 ↓

Cream for Saint Honores, Charlottes-Russes, Et Bavarois

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the base

  1. Boil the milk.

  2. In a bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg yolks.

  3. Add the gelatine to the egg mixture.

Cook and strain

  1. Gently stir in the boiling milk.

  2. Place the mixture over low heat and stir until it begins to boil.

  3. Strain through a fine sieve into a bowl.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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

Egg yolks
Their proteins thicken the cream as they heat, giving it a rich, set body.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and creamy moisture of the cream.
Gelatine
Sets the cream so it holds its shape once chilled.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps balance the richness of the yolks and milk.
Vanilla sugar
Adds a sweet vanilla aroma to the cream.

The step that matters

Stir the mixture over low heat until it begins to boil. Egg yolk proteins set when heated and can scramble into lumps if the heat is too high or the mixture is not stirred. Gentle heat with constant stirring keeps the custard smooth, and straining through a fine sieve catches any small cooked bits.

“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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