Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Snow Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the snow
Soak the gelatine in a teacup of cold water for 1 hour.
Add 1 pint of boiling water to the soaked gelatine and stir until dissolved.
Mix in 1 1/3 cups of sugar and the lemon juice.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Once the gelatine mixture is cold, gradually whip it into the egg whites, one spoonful at a time, for 30 to 60 minutes.
Pour the mixture into a mold or a dozen egg glasses that have been wet with cold water.
Refrigerate for 4 to 5 hours until set.
Make the custard and serve
To make the custard, heat 1 1/2 pints of milk with the egg yolks and the remaining sugar, adding vanilla to taste.
When the snow custard is set, turn it out onto a glass dish and pour the custard around the base.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,961 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the whipped mixture into a firm, sliceable shape as it cools.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the snow its light, airy foam structure.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the warmed milk into a smooth, rich custard.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the custard, adding richness and body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the snow and the custard.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the snow.
The step that matters
Whipping the cooled gelatine into the egg whites. If the gelatine mixture is still warm, it can deflate the whipped egg whites and stop them holding their foam. Waiting until it is cold and adding it spoonful by spoonful keeps the airy structure intact while the gelatine sets it.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, milk, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Blueberryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, milk, vanilla. 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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