Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Orange Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatine in a little cold water for about 2 hours.
Boil the rind of the orange until soft.
Beat the rind to extract the flavor.
Make the custard
Combine the orange juice with the rind and the water it was boiled in.
Add the brandy and lightly beaten egg yolks, stirring for 10 minutes.
Heat the cream in a pan of boiling water until it boils.
Remove the cream from heat and add the gelatine, stirring well.
Pour the cream mixture into the orange mixture, stirring until cold.
Strain the mixture.
Mold and set
Rinse a mold in cold water.
Pour the mixture into the mold.
Place the mold in a large dish of cold water.
Let it sit for an hour.
Set on ice to stiffen.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Orange + brandytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,706 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,635 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Brandy + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Brandy + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Brandy and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,939 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 the mixture and add richness to the cream.
- Cream
- Adds fat and a smooth, rich texture to the set dessert.
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid mixture into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
- Orange
- Supplies the juice and aromatic oils from the rind for flavor.
- Loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the citrus and brandy.
The step that matters
Pour the cream mixture into the orange mixture, stirring until cold.. Gelatine sets only when it cools, and adding warm cream to the citrus mixture while stirring keeps the mixture even. Stirring until cold helps the gelatine distribute evenly before it begins to firm, so the set dessert has a uniform texture.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brandy, sugar, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against brandy, sugar, egg, cream. 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.
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