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Dessert

Italian Cream, or Bavarian Without Cream

A custard made from milk, eggs, sugar, gelatin, and whipped egg whites, set in a mold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Italian Cream, or Bavarian Without Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Make a custard of one pint of milk, the yolks of three eggs, and three tablespoonfuls of sugar.

  2. Add a dash of salt.

  3. Add an ounce of gelatin, which has soaked for half an hour in some of the cold milk.

  4. Remove from the fire.

Finish and set

  1. Fold in carefully the whites of three eggs whipped to a stiff froth.

  2. Turn the mixture into a mold to set.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

276Calories
14 gProtein
13 gFat
25 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Salt1 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 Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  3. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 of the custard and gives the dessert its creamy body.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they cook gently with the milk.
Egg whites
Whipped to a stiff froth, they lighten the mixture and add airy structure.
Gelatin
Sets the cooled mixture so it holds its shape when turned out of the mold.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the milk and eggs.

The step that matters

Fold in the whipped egg whites carefully. Stiffly whipped whites are full of trapped air. Heavy stirring knocks that air out, so the dessert turns dense instead of light. Folding gently keeps the foam intact.

“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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