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 ↓
Snow Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the snow
Soak the gelatine in ½ cup cold water for 1 hour.
Dissolve the gelatine in 1 pint boiling water.
Stir in ⅔ cup sugar and lemon juice.
Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
Fold the cold gelatine mixture into the egg whites, spoonful by spoonful, for 30 to 60 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a mold or wet egg glasses.
Refrigerate until set, about 4 to 5 hours.
Make the custard and serve
Heat 1½ pints milk with the yolks of 3 eggs and the remaining sugar.
Add vanilla for flavor.
Turn the set snowballs out of the mold.
Pour the custard around the snowballs.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,961 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the whipped mixture so it holds its shape when unmolded.
- Egg whites
- Whipped into stiff peaks to give the snow its light, airy structure.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a custard as they heat, adding richness.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the custard, giving it body and a creamy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens both the snow and the custard.
The step that matters
Fold the gelatine mixture into the egg whites. The gelatine must be cool but still liquid, and folded gently, so the whites keep their air. If the gelatine is too hot it deflates the foam; if it sets early, lumps form and the snow loses its lightness.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk, vanilla. 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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