Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Spanish Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the custard base
Soak the gelatine in 1½ cups of milk for 1 hour.
Scald the remaining milk, then stir in the soaked gelatine until dissolved.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar together.
Remove the milk mixture from heat and allow to cool slightly, then mix in the egg yolk mixture.
Set and serve
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.
Pour the mixture into a mold and refrigerate until set.
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid mixture into a firm, sliceable dessert as it chills.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard, adding richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
- Egg whites
- Beaten and folded in, they add lightness and an airy texture.
- Milk
- Forms the main liquid body of the dessert and carries its flavour and creaminess.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the milk and yolks.
The step that matters
Fold in the beaten egg whites gently. Egg whites hold air only while beaten. Vigorous stirring deflates the foam and makes the dessert denser, so fold slowly, and only after the milk mixture has cooled slightly so the gelatine does not set or the whites do not collapse from heat.
“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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