Why it works: Lemon and angelica match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 189 recipes. Both carry (e,e)-2,4-decadienal, which smells fatty, deep fried. The science ↓
Swiss Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the base
Layer the macaroons or sponge cakes in a glass dish and pour enough sherry over them to cover.
Combine the cream, sugar, and lemon rind in a saucepan.
Heat gently over the fire until well-flavored, then remove the lemon rind.
Make the custard
Mix the arrowroot with the cold milk until smooth.
Add the mixture to the cream mixture and boil gently for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and stir until nearly cool.
Add the lemon juice and pour the mixture over the cakes.
Garnish
Garnish with strips of angelica, candied citron, or bright-colored jelly.
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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Lemon + angelicatop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together189 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Arrowroot + lemontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together553 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Arrowroot + angelicatop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,479 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Macaroons or sponge cakes
- Soak up the sherry and form the soft base under the cream layer.
- Cream
- Provides richness and fat, giving the set custard a smooth, creamy texture.
- Lump sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the acidity of the lemon juice.
- Arrowroot
- Thickens the cream mixture into a smooth, glossy set when boiled.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the rich cream.
The step that matters
Stirring while the thickened cream boils. Arrowroot can clump or scorch on the bottom of the pan if not stirred constantly, leaving lumps and a burnt taste. Constant stirring keeps the starch evenly dispersed as it thickens.
Swap the angelica
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, arrowroot, lemon, milk, sherry):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Angelicathe original
- Thymefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, arrowroot, lemon, milk, sherry. 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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