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Dessert

Italian Cream

A chilled custard dessert made with milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar, gelatin, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Italian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine milk and cream in a pot.

  2. Add gelatin to the cold milk mixture.

Make the custard

  1. Heat slowly while stirring until it thickens like boiled custard.

  2. Remove from heat and stir in egg yolks and sugar until dissolved.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into molds and refrigerate for at least 12 hours before serving.

  2. For quicker setting, add more gelatin.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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 that the custard is built on.
Cream
Adds fat for a rich taste and a smooth, soft texture.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they heat and add richness.
White sugar
Provides sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and yolks.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable dessert as it chills.

The step that matters

Heating the custard slowly while stirring. Egg yolks thicken gently at moderate heat but can scramble or curdle if overheated. Constant stirring spreads heat evenly, giving a smooth custard that sets cleanly.

“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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