Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Cheese Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the curd
Warm the milk in a saucepan over low heat.
Mash the cheese finely and add it to the milk, stirring well.
Cover the saucepan and let it curdle over a little hot ashes.
Once curdled, transfer the curd to a small willow or rush basket lined with fine linen.
Allow it to drain well, then place it in a sweetmeat dish.
Serve
Serve with good cream and powdered sugar.
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.
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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 + cheesetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,655 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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 body of the curd once it is coagulated by the cheese.
- Cheese
- Acts as the curdling agent, causing the warm milk to separate into curds and whey.
- Cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, fatty mouthfeel to the finished dish.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness to the mild curd when served.
The step that matters
Letting the milk curdle gently. Heat that is too high or too long can make the curd tough and grainy, while gentle warmth lets the milk coagulate into a soft, tender set. Covering the pan keeps heat and moisture steady during curdling.
“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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