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Dessert

Russian Cream

A chilled custard made with milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Russian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatin in enough water to cover it for four hours.

  2. Scald the milk, then remove it from the heat and let it cool slightly.

Make the custard

  1. Add the beaten egg yolks, sugar, and gelatin to the milk, stirring while mixing.

  2. Return the mixture to the heat and boil for five minutes, stirring constantly.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten egg whites.

  4. Add the vanilla.

  5. Strain the mixture.

Mold and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold wet with cold water.

  2. Chill until set.

  3. Serve cold, with sauce if desired.

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. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Gelatin
Sets the liquid cream into a firm, sliceable body as it chills.
Milk
Forms the creamy liquid base that the custard and gelatin are set in.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard when gently heated, giving it a smooth, rich body.
Egg whites
Stirred in off the heat to add a lighter, airier texture to the cream.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the milk and egg.
Vanilla
Adds a warm, aromatic flavour to the cream.

The step that matters

Boiling the custard while stirring constantly. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can curdle or scorch if left still or overheated. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly so the custard thickens smoothly.

“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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