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Dessert

Vanilla Cream, Bolted

A vanilla cream set by bolting, thickened with eggs and sugar, served cold.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Vanilla Cream, Bolted

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Boil the cream with vanilla and sugar a few times.

  2. Let the mixture cool.

  3. If using a quart mould, mix in the egg yolks and whole eggs.

  4. Strain the mixture through a bolting cloth five times.

Bake and set

  1. Butter the mould.

  2. Pour the cream into the mould.

  3. Place the mould in a bain marie at a moderate temperature.

  4. Check if the cream is set by gently touching it with your finger.

Finish and serve

  1. Turn the cream out onto a dish.

  2. Stir the remaining cream over low heat until it thickens on a wooden spoon.

  3. Pour the thickened cream over the set cream.

  4. Serve cold.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Vanilla + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,050 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Vanilla and sugar 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 yolks
Provide richness and thicken the custard as they set with gentle heat.
Whole eggs
Help the custard set firm and hold its shape when turned out.
Cream
Supplies fat and smooth, rich texture to the pudding.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the cream and eggs.

The step that matters

Stirring the remaining cream over low heat. Egg proteins set at gentle temperatures, but high heat can curdle the custard into grainy lumps. Low heat and steady stirring let it thicken smoothly on the spoon.

“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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