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 ↓
Bavaroise, or Bohemian Cream Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Make the strawberry jelly
Bruise the strawberries slightly and combine them with sugar, isinglass, and water in a saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then let it simmer for 10 minutes.
Strain through a jelly bag into a basin and set aside to cool.
Discard any sediment at the bottom of the basin.
Make the bavaroise
When it starts to thicken, whip the cream to stiff peaks.
Add the jelly to the whipped cream spoonful by spoonful, beating continuously.
Beat the mixture for about 10 minutes until very thick.
Add cochineal and mix well.
Pour into a well-wetted mold and refrigerate to set.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Strawberries
- Provide the main flavour and pale pink colour of the jelly.
- Isinglass
- Gelatinous setting agent that firms the strawberry liquid into a jelly.
- Cream
- Whipped to stiff peaks, it gives the bavaroise its light, airy, creamy texture.
- Loaf sugar
- Sweetens the jelly and helps give it body as it cooks.
The step that matters
Adding the jelly to the whipped cream. The jelly must be cool and only just thickening, added slowly while beating. If it is warm or added in one go, it deflates the cream and the mixture loses its airy structure.
“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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