Why it works: Milk and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,399 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Infants' Food
Ingredients
Directions
Mix
Combine 1 pint of fresh cow's milk with an equal amount of cream and 1 pint of water.
Add 1 large heaping tablespoonful of Mellin's Food.
Sterilize
Sterilize the milk by placing it in a clean bottle with a new cork, loosely corked.
Heat water in a pot and place the bottle inside, boiling for 40-50 minutes.
After boiling, cork the bottle tightly and store it in a cool place.
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 + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cow's milk
- Forms the main liquid base, supplying protein, fat and milk sugar.
- Cream
- Adds extra fat, giving the mixture a richer texture and fuller mouthfeel.
- Water
- Dilutes the milk and cream so the mixture is thinner and easier to take in.
The step that matters
Loosely cork the bottle while boiling. Boiling in a water bath kills microbes that would spoil the milk. The cork must stay loose during heating so steam can escape and pressure does not build up. Sealing it tightly only after boiling keeps the sterilized milk closed and protected while it cools and is stored.
“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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