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Dessert

Ceeme Patissiere, or Pastry Cream

A custard made from flour, egg yolks, cream, sugar, butter, and optional flavorings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Ceeme Patissiere, or Pastry Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Gradually add the beaten yolks of the eggs to the flour, stirring briskly.

  2. Slowly incorporate the boiling cream in small portions.

  3. Transfer the mixture to a clean saucepan and stir over low heat until thick.

  4. Remove from heat, stir well, then return to heat and let simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.

Finish and flavour

  1. Pour into a basin and immediately add the pounded sugar and butter.

  2. Mix in the optional ratifias and store-flavoring or lemon rind if desired.

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

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

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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 cream as they cook and add richness and a smooth texture.
Fine flour
Stabilises the custard so it thickens and holds its body without splitting.
Cream
Provides the liquid base and fat that give the custard a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
Butter
Adds fat for a glossy finish and a softer, richer texture.
Pounded sugar
Sweetens the custard and rounds out its flavour.

The step that matters

Stirring the yolks into the flour. Adding the yolks and stirring briskly keeps the flour evenly dispersed, preventing lumps. Egg proteins set with heat, so the custard must be cooked gently and stirred constantly while simmering to thicken smoothly without curdling.

Swap the lemon

The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, cream, sugar, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, cream, sugar, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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