Name: Tea Cream
Ingredients: 1 pint of cream; 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, washed; 1 stick of cinnamon; 1 piece of lemon peel; Sugar to taste; ½ cup strong tea; 6 egg whites

Why it works: Coriander and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,498 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Tea Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cream

Boil the cream, coriander seeds, cinnamon, lemon peel, and sugar together for 10 minutes.
Add the strong tea to the mixture.
Strain the cream into the beaten egg whites.

Thicken and serve

Beat the egg whites until frothy.
Whisk the mixture over low heat until it begins to thicken.
Pour into cups or a deep dish and let cool.
Garnish with whole radishes before serving.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Coriander + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,498 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Coriander + cinnamontop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,635 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cinnamon + lemontop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,950 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Cinnamon + teatop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together245 recipes

Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).
Lemon + teatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together610 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cream: Provides richness and body, so the set custard feels smooth and creamy.
Egg whites: Set on gentle heat and give the cream its thickened, airy structure.
Strong tea: Adds flavour and a light tannic bitterness to the cream.
Sugar: Adds sweetness to balance the tea and spices.

The step that matters

Whisking over low heat. Egg whites can curdle or turn grainy if heated too fast. Gentle, steady heat lets them thicken smoothly.

Swap the coriander

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, cinnamon, lemon, sugar, tea, egg):

Nutmegfits better
Cardamomfits better
Gingerfits better
Corianderthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, cinnamon, lemon, sugar, tea, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.