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Dessert

Vanilla Cream

A custard-like dessert made with milk, sugar, vanilla bean, egg yolks, and folded whipped egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Vanilla Cream

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 ↓

Vanilla Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, heat the milk and sugar until the sugar dissolves.

  2. Add the grated vanilla bean to the milk and stir.

  3. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks until smooth.

  4. Slowly pour the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly.

  5. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened.

  6. Remove from heat and let cool.

Finish and serve

  1. Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form and fold into the cooled mixture.

  2. Chill 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.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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

Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the vanilla flavor.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness and smoothness.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and dissolves into the milk before cooking.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the cooled cream with air.

The step that matters

Cook the custard over low heat until thickened. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with heat. Cooking too hot or too long can curdle the custard into scrambled bits, so keep the heat low and watch closely.

“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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