Why it works: Maple syrup and cream work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 607 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Maple Mousse
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Beat the yolks of 4 eggs and add 1 cup of maple syrup in a double boiler.
Cook until it thickens slightly, then remove from heat and beat until cool.
Finish and freeze
Fold in 1 pint of whipped heavy cream.
Pack the mixture in salt and ice, and freeze for 4 hours.
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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Maple syrup + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together607 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Egg + maple syruptop 24% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,156 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard base and add richness as they cook gently over heat.
- Maple syrup
- Provides sweetness and the main maple flavor.
- Heavy cream
- Adds fat and whipped air for a light, creamy texture.
The step that matters
Cook until it thickens slightly. Egg yolks set when heated, so gentle heat in a double boiler thickens the base smoothly. Overheating can scramble the yolks into lumps, so stop once it thickens slightly.
“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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