Why it works: Champagne and brandy work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 169 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓
Champagne Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cream base
Beat the yolks of the eggs thoroughly.
Gradually add the sugar until stiff and firm.
Stir in the champagne until well mixed.
Finally, add the brandy.
Serve
Pour the cream into a glass jug and serve in champagne glasses.
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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Champagne + brandytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together169 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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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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Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,635 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Egg + brandytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,340 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
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Sugar + brandytop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together11,939 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar and brandy 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
- Egg yolks
- Provide richness and thicken the mixture as they are beaten.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and helps the beaten yolks hold their structure.
- Champagne
- Adds acidity and a light, bubbly aroma to the cream.
- Brandy
- Adds a warm aroma that deepens the flavour of the cream.
- Cream
- Adds fat and moisture, giving the dish a smooth, rich texture.
The step that matters
Gradually add the sugar until stiff and firm. Adding sugar slowly while beating lets it dissolve evenly into the yolks. Dumping it in at once can leave grainy sugar and a mixture that does not thicken smoothly.
“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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