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
two piesIngredients
Directions
Make the cake
For the cake, take butter the size of an egg, one cupful of sugar, two eggs, one-third cupful of milk, two cupfuls of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder.
Bake in two tins for two pies.
Make the cream
For the cream, take one pint of milk (taking out enough to wet one-half cupful of flour).
Boil with two-thirds cupful of sugar and yolks of two eggs.
Add the flour to milk and boil three minutes.
When cold, flavor with lemon or vanilla, and spread between upper and lower crusts of each pie after cutting them smoothly apart.
Serve
To be eaten with whipped cream.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
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 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
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).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Eggs
- Add structure and richness to the cake batter and custard.
- Flour
- Provides structure by setting as it cooks in both the cake and the cream.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter so the cake rises and becomes light.
- Butter
- Adds fat for tenderness and flavor in the cake.
- Milk
- Provides moisture and forms the body of the cooked cream.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps soften the cake texture.
The step that matters
Add the flour to milk and boil three minutes. Flour must be fully wetted before adding and cooked long enough to thicken the cream and remove its raw starch taste. Stirring keeps it smooth and prevents lumps from forming.
“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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