Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Spanish Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Dissolve the gelatin in 3 pints of milk by boiling.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and mix with the sugar.
Add the yolk mixture to the milk and gelatin, stirring until it thickens.
Set aside to cool.
Finish and set
Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the custard when it is almost cold.
Pour into molds and flavor to your taste before adding the egg whites.
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the milk and egg mixture into a soft, sliceable custard as it cools.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk mixture and add richness and colour.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff foam, they lighten the custard with air for a delicate texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the yolks and milk.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. If the custard is still warm, the whites deflate and the mixture loses its airy texture. Folding them in when the custard is almost cold keeps the foam intact while the gelatine is ready to set.
“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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