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
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Soak the gelatin in ½ cup cold milk for 30 minutes.
Boil 1 quart of milk in a saucepan.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks and sugar.
Add the soaked gelatin.
Remove from heat when the custard thickens.
Pour the custard into a deep dish.
Finish and chill
Fold in the beaten egg whites.
Mix well.
Add flavoring to taste.
Pour the mixture into molds.
Refrigerate for 4 hours to cool.
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.
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the custard so it holds its shape when chilled.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness.
- Egg whites
- Beaten and folded in to add lightness and airy texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps balance the eggs.
The step that matters
Remove from heat when the custard thickens. Egg yolks set when overheated and can curdle or turn grainy. Pulling the custard off the heat as it thickens keeps it smooth, and it thickens further as it cools.
“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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