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Dessert

Quaking Custard

A gelatin-based custard made with milk, eggs, sugar, wine or vanilla, folded with whipped cream and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Gelatin and cream match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Quaking Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water.

  2. Scald the milk in a saucepan.

  3. Beat the egg yolks and sugar until light.

  4. Slowly stir the egg mixture into the hot milk and cook until it thickens.

  5. Pour the mixture over the gelatin and add the wine or vanilla.

Set and serve

  1. When it cools, fold in the whipped cream and beaten egg whites.

  2. Pour into a mold and refrigerate until set.

  3. Turn out onto a flat dish and garnish with fruits before serving.

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. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they cook into the hot milk.
Gelatin
Sets the custard so it wobbles and holds its shape when turned out.
Whipped cream
Adds airy lightness and moisture to the set custard.
Egg whites
Fold in to lighten the texture and add airy structure.
Milk
Forms the creamy base that the egg yolks thicken.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the yolks and cream.

The step that matters

Slowly stir the egg mixture into the hot milk. Adding the eggs gradually, while stirring, tempers them so they do not scramble. Cooking gently until the custard thickens keeps it smooth rather than curdled.

“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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