Why it works: Milk and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,399 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cottage Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Make the curds
Remove cream from the milk.
Place the milk on the back of the stove to cook at a low temperature until whey forms.
Stir occasionally to keep the curds broken up.
Carefully drain the curds.
Finish and store
In a bowl, mix the curds with salt and cream until well combined.
Store in a covered jelly glass for convenience.
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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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Provides the proteins that separate into curds and whey when heated and soured.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a softer, moister texture to the finished curds.
The step that matters
Heating the milk at a low temperature. Gentle heat lets the curds form and firm slowly. Overheating can make them tough or rubbery and can scorch the milk on the bottom of the pan.
“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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