Why it works: Cream and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and 29,399 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Creme a LA Reine
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cream
Put a pint of cream on the fire, with two eggs well beaten.
Add 140 ounces of sugar; let it boil until well reduced.
When about to take it off the fire, add some essence of vanilla or some orange‑flower water, and the whites of two eggs well beaten; stir on the fire for a moment until the egg whites are set.
Take it off the fire, place in a dish, and let it cool before serving.
Set the curd and serve
Take a pint of good milk, warm it on the fire; then add about the size of a pea of rennet.
Put the milk on some hot cinders, with the same on the cover, and let the curd set.
When it has set, put it into a cheese vat to drain, and then put it into a compotier to serve with good cream sweetened with sugar.
Sift some sugar over it.
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.
-
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg share little aroma chemistry, yet 42,166 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
- Forms the rich, smooth body of the custard as it thickens and cools.
- Eggs
- Thicken the cream on gentle heat as their proteins set, giving the custard structure.
- Sugar (in the method)
- Sweetens the dish and, boiled down, thickens the cream into a richer base.
- Milk
- Forms the curd that drains into the soft cheese texture of the dish.
- Rennet (in the method)
- Enzyme that curdles the warm milk so it sets into a solid curd.
The step that matters
Stir in the egg whites only until just set. Egg white proteins coagulate on heat; overheating or stirring too long over the fire makes the custard grainy or curdled instead of smooth.
“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.
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.