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
Make a custard by heating milk, egg yolks, sugar, and salt until it coats the back of a spoon.
Soak the gelatine in some cold milk for half an hour, then add it to the custard once cooked.
Remove from heat as soon as the gelatine dissolves.
Set and serve
When the mixture begins to thicken, fold in the whipped egg whites gently.
Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.
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.
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the set texture.
- Gelatine
- Sets the custard as it cools, giving it a firm, sliceable body.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks thicken the custard; whipped whites add lightness and airiness.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps soften the custard's set.
The step that matters
Removing from heat as soon as the gelatine dissolves. Gelatine dissolves fully at moderate heat, but prolonged boiling can weaken its setting power. Overheating the egg yolks can also curdle the custard, so stopping heat at the right moment protects both texture and set.
“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 free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.