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 Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Instead of baking a Washington pie in two layers, bake it in three and spread cream between.
The pie must be entirely cold before putting together.
Scald one pint of fresh milk.
Make the cream
Mix together and add two tablespoons of corn starch, one cup of sugar, a little salt, and two eggs.
Flavor with lemon.
Add a piece of butter the size of a quarter.
Assemble and serve
When nearly cold, spread the cream between the cakes, using all the cream.
Sift sugar over the top when all together.
To be eaten the day the cream is put in.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 6 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 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| 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.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
-
Butter + corntop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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 of the custard that sets into the cream filling.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and adds body to the filling.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the milk mixture so the cream holds its shape between the layers.
- Eggs
- Help the cream set and add richness to the custard.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a richer flavor and smoother texture in the cream.
The step that matters
Spread the cream when nearly cold. Warm cream softens the cake layers and melts the butter in the filling, so the layers can slide or turn soggy. Letting the cream cool until nearly cold keeps it thick and stable.
“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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