Skip to main content
Dessert

Milanese Cream

A custard dessert made with milk, sugar, egg yolks, thick cream, and flavored with liqueur.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Milanese Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the milk and sugar together.

  2. Dissolve the isinglass in the water.

  3. Beat the egg yolks well.

Make the custard

  1. Add the hot milk to the egg yolks, stirring constantly, but do not boil.

  2. Stir over gentle heat until it reaches boiling temperature.

  3. Strain the mixture into a basin.

  4. Stir in the dissolved isinglass and thick cream.

  5. Flavor with essence or liqueur of your choice.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a mold greased with almond oil.

  2. Let it stand in a cool place until firmly set.

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

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

  2. Milk + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,908 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Rum + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together313 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

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 through their proteins setting on gentle heat.
Isinglass
Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the cream so it holds its shape when chilled.
Thick cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and a softer mouthfeel.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps give a smooth, tender texture.
New milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that the yolks thicken.

The step that matters

Stir over gentle heat after adding the milk to the yolks. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated, so the mixture must be stirred constantly over gentle heat. Heating slowly lets the yolk proteins thicken it smoothly.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, sugar, egg, cream, rum):

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pecansfits about as well
  3. Chestnutfits less well
  4. Walnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, sugar, egg, cream, rum. 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.

You might also like

Almond Sponge CakeAlmond Sponge Cake26 recipesAlmond CustardAlmond Custard22 recipesAlmond WafersAlmond Wafers22 recipesCoconut Almond CakeCoconut Almond Cake17 recipes