Why it works: Egg and milk 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
Make the custard
Soak the gelatine in 1 quart of milk for 45 minutes.
Heat the milk until it comes to a boil.
Stir in the beaten egg yolks and sugar.
Finish and set
Remove from heat and fold in the beaten egg whites until combined.
Add flavoring and pour into a mold to 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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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 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).
Sugar and milk 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 into a firm, sliceable custard as it cools.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth texture.
- Egg whites
- Folded in whipped, they add lightness and an airy texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the gelatine and eggs set into.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.
The step that matters
Stirring the beaten egg yolks and sugar into the hot milk. Hot milk can scramble egg yolks if they are added too quickly. Adding them gradually while stirring steadily lets the yolks thicken the custard smoothly.
“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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