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 ↓
Cream, Caramel
Ingredients
Directions
Make the caramel
Combine sugar and water in a pan and heat until the sugar turns burnt brown and tastes slightly bitter.
Pour boiling cream into the caramelized sugar and strain through a fine sieve into a basin; let it cool slightly.
Make the custard
Mix egg yolks with the cream and heat in a saucepan, whisking until thick but do not let it boil.
Return the mixture to the basin, add the melted isinglass, and stir until nearly cold.
Finish and set
Fold in the whipped cream and sweeten to taste, then pour into a mold.
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).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
- Isinglass
- Sets the cream so it holds its shape when cold.
- Whipped cream
- Adds lightness and a airy, fluffy texture to the set cream.
- Loaf sugar
- Caramelized to give a deep, slightly bitter flavour and colour.
The step that matters
Heating the egg yolk custard. Egg yolks thicken as they warm, but if the mixture boils they scramble and turn grainy. Whisk over gentle heat and stop once it coats the spoon thickly.
“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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