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Dessert

Mixed Fresh Fruit Cream

A chilled dessert of fruit syrup mixed with rich cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Red currant and white currant share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4 recipes. Both carry isoamyl acetate, which smells banana, pear. The science ↓

Mixed Fresh Fruit Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the fruit

  1. Combine red currants, Kentish cherries, white currants, and loaf sugar in a pot.

  2. Boil quickly for 20 minutes, skimming often.

  3. Add raspberries and strawberries, then simmer for 2 minutes.

  4. Press the mixture through a sieve.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir the syrup into the rich cream and whisk until thickened.

  2. Serve in glass cups.

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. Red currant + white curranttop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Red currant + sugartop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,156 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. White currant + sugartop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together59 recipes
  5. Red currant + creamtop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together247 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Loaf sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the fruit syrup thicken as it cooks.
Rich cream
Provides fat and body, becoming thick and smooth when whisked.
Red currants
Contribute tartness and natural pectin that helps the syrup set.
Kentish cherries
Add sweet-tart fruit flavour and body to the syrup.
Raspberries
Add bright fruity aroma and flavour to the syrup.
Strawberries
Add fruity flavour and sweetness to the syrup.

The step that matters

Whisking the syrup into the cream. Whisk only until the cream thickens. Over-whisking rich cream can make it grainy or cause it to separate, so stop as soon as it holds a soft body.

Swap the white currant

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (red currant, sugar, cream):

  1. Raspberryfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Strawberryfits better
  4. White currantthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against red currant, sugar, cream. 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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