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Vanilla Cream

A custard-like vanilla cream made with vanilla bean, milk, cream, egg yolks, and sugar.

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

Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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

Flavor the milk

  1. Put the vanilla bean into the milk.

  2. Boil the milk until thoroughly flavored.

  3. Remove the vanilla bean from the milk.

  4. Strain the milk into the fresh cream.

Make the custard

  1. Combine the egg yolks in another saucepan.

  2. Gradually add the sugar to the yolks, beating well.

  3. Warm the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly until slightly thickened, but do not let it boil.

  4. Strain the egg mixture through a coarse sieve.

  5. Quickly stir the strained mixture into the cream and milk.

  6. Pour the mixture into a large glass dish or individual cups.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

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

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they gently set and give it a rich, smooth body.
Fresh cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the custard a smooth, velvety texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the vanilla flavor.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps keep its texture smooth.
Vanilla bean
Provides the main aroma and flavor as it infuses into the hot milk.

The step that matters

Warm the egg mixture gently. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat, but if they get too hot they scramble and curdle. Stir constantly over low heat and stop once slightly thickened, without boiling.

“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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