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Dessert

French Cream

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

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 ↓

French Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard

  1. Dissolve the gelatin in ½ cup of the milk.

  2. Heat the remaining milk in a boiler or kettle until it boils.

  3. Stir the dissolved gelatin and milk into the boiling milk.

  4. Beat the eggs separately.

  5. Add the remaining milk to the beaten eggs.

  6. Stir in the yolks.

  7. Flavor with vanilla and mix well.

  8. Whip the mixture.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold.

  2. Add the egg whites on top.

  3. Set the mold in ice or a cool place until cold.

  4. Serve with any good sauce or cream.

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

Eggs
Yolks thicken and enrich the cream, and the whites add lightness on top.
Milk
Forms the liquid base, giving the cream its body and moisture.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid as it cools, giving the cream a firm, sliceable texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the milk and eggs.

The step that matters

Set the mold in ice or a cool place until cold. Gelatine only firms once it is chilled thoroughly. If the mold stays warm or is not cold enough, the cream will stay soft and may not hold its shape.

“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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