Name: Cream for Cream Puffs and Eclairs
Ingredients: 2 cups milk scalded in double boiler; 4 tablespoonfuls flour; 1 teaspoonful butter; 2 eggs; salt

Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cream for Cream Puffs and Eclairs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cream

Scald 2 cups milk in a double boiler.
Whisk 4 tablespoonfuls flour into the hot milk.
Add a speck of salt and 2 cups sugar to the mixture.
Stir the mixture until smooth.
Cook for ten minutes.
Beat 2 eggs and add to the mixture.
Cook for five minutes.
Remove from the heat and flavor to taste.

Cool and use

Let cool; use as filling.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

784Calories

27 gProtein

26 gFat

108 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 5 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. See the original page.

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.

Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Milk: Forms the liquid base that thickens into a creamy custard as it heats.
Flour: Its starch swells when heated with liquid, thickening the cream and giving it body.
Eggs: Their proteins set during gentle cooking, adding further thickness and structure to the cream.
Butter: Adds fat, which gives the cream richness and a smoother mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs. Beaten eggs must be stirred into the hot mixture so they blend in and thicken it evenly. If the heat is too high or the eggs are added too quickly, their proteins can set in lumps and the cream turns grainy.

“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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Cream for Cream Puffs and Eclairs