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Sauce

Cream Sauce

A sweet cream sauce made with egg, powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, cornstarch, and boiling milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Cream Sauce

Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

Cream Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Beat the egg white until stiff peaks form.

  2. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar and cornstarch.

  3. Add the egg yolk and mix well.

Cook

  1. Pour in the boiling milk and place the mixture over heat.

  2. Stir until it boils, then add the butter and vanilla.

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.

  1. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Butter + vanillatop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Egg
The whipped white adds airy lift, while the yolk enriches the sauce and helps it thicken.
Cornstarch
Thickens the sauce as it heats, giving it body.
Powdered sugar
Provides sweetness and dissolves smoothly into the sauce.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smooth, glossy finish.
Vanilla extract
Adds aroma that rounds out the sweetness.

The step that matters

Bring the mixture to a full boil. Cornstarch only fully thickens once the liquid reaches a boil. Stopping early leaves the sauce thin and can leave a raw, starchy taste.

“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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