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Dessert

Maple Parfait

A chilled dessert made from maple syrup, egg yolks, heavy cream, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Maple syrup and cream work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 607 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Maple Parfait

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup base

  1. In a saucepan, combine maple syrup and beaten egg yolks.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously until it boils.

  3. Boil for 5 minutes, then strain and set aside to cool.

Build the parfait

  1. Beat heavy cream until stiff peaks form.

  2. Fold in the beaten egg whites.

  3. Whip the cooled syrup until light and fluffy.

  4. Gently stir all ingredients together.

Freeze

  1. Mould the mixture and pack in ice and salt for 3 hours.

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. Maple syrup + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together607 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Maple syrup + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,156 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream 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

Maple syrup
Provides the main sweetness and the maple flavour of the parfait.
Egg yolks
Thicken the syrup as they cook and add richness to the mixture.
Heavy cream
Adds fat for a smooth, creamy texture and holds air when whipped.
Egg whites
Whipped and folded in, they add structure and a light, airy texture.

The step that matters

Cooking the syrup and yolks over medium heat. Stirring constantly keeps the egg yolks from overheating and scrambling. Gentle, even heat thickens the custard smoothly before it is strained and cooled.

“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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