Why it works: Milk and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,399 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Cream Cheese
Ingredients
Directions
Drain the curd
Stir a little salt into a pan of soured cream.
Suspend the mixture in a muslin bag to drain.
Change the bag every morning for three days.
Mould and press
Pack the drained curd into wet, round wooden molds with holes in the bottom.
Press the curd for two hours.
Store
Wrap the cheese in tissue paper and store it in a cool place.
Set and finish
After the milk sets, drain it gently without breaking it.
Place the curd in a strong cloth inside a cleaned hoop or box.
Fold the cloth over the curd and place a weight on top to press it evenly.
Let it remain under pressure for one day, then remove from the hoop and rub with salt.
The cheese will be ready to serve in three to four days.
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.
-
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Sweet milk
- Forms the protein curd that sets into the body of the cheese.
- Cream
- Adds fat, making the cheese richer and softer in texture.
- Rennet
- Causes the milk to coagulate into a solid curd that can be drained and pressed.
The step that matters
Draining the milk after it sets. Draining gently without breaking the curd keeps the curd in larger pieces. Breaking it releases whey unevenly and can leave the cheese crumbly and dry.
“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.
More cream cheese recipes
You might also like
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.