Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 43,450 recipes mention both. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Marie Stary
twelve peopleIngredients
Directions
Prepare
Whip two cups of cream stiff.
Grate one-half pound of macaroons or nuts.
Make the custard
Make a custard of one pint of milk, one-half cup of sugar, one envelope or half box Knox's gelatin, softened three minutes in a little cold water, yolks of four eggs and teaspoon of vanilla.
Cook one minute and strain into a pan set in ice water or cold place.
Set and serve
When it begins to thicken, add macaroons and whipped cream and fold in.
Place in cold place to harden.
Serve with chopped nuts and maraschino cherries.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 77,875 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Cream
- Whipped to stiff peaks, it lightens the cream and gives the set dessert a soft, airy texture.
- Macaroons
- Folded in as crumbs, they add body, flavour and some texture to the cream.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard that is thickened and then set.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the custard and add richness.
- Gelatin (in the method)
- Softened and dissolved into the custard, it sets the cream so it holds its shape when cold.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.
The step that matters
Folding in the whipped cream and macaroons. Add them only when the custard has begun to thicken but is still fluid. If it is too cold and firm, lumps form; if too warm, the gelatin will not set properly and the cream will deflate.
“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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