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Dessert

Snow Custard

A chilled gelatin custard made with egg yolks, egg whites, sugar, milk, lemon juice, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Snow Custard

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 ↓

Snow Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatin

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold water for 1 hour or until soft.

  2. Dissolve the gelatin by adding the boiling water.

  3. Stir in the sugar and lemon juice.

  4. Strain and set aside to cool.

Make the snow

  1. Add the beaten egg whites.

  2. Beat until stiff enough to drop.

  3. Pour into a mold.

Make the custard and serve

  1. Make a custard with the egg yolks, 3 tablespoons sugar, salt, and milk.

  2. Cook in a double boiler.

  3. Flavor the custard.

  4. Serve with the snow.

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. Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 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

Gelatine
Sets the lemon mixture into a firm, sliceable body as it cools.
Egg whites
Whipped into a stiff foam that gives the light, airy snow topping.
Egg yolks
Thicken the milk custard through gentle heat and add richness.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sweetness of the dish.
Milk
Forms the base of the custard, adding creaminess and body.

The step that matters

Cook the custard gently in a double boiler. Egg yolks thicken at low, steady heat; too much heat can curdle them into a grainy texture. A double boiler keeps the temperature gentle and even.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Figfits better
  2. Peachfits better
  3. Blueberryfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

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

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