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 ↓
Velvet Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Dissolve ½ box of gelatine in 1 quart of cold milk in a saucepan over medium heat.
Bring to a boil, then stir in 3 beaten egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of sugar.
Continue stirring until the mixture thickens to a custard consistency.
Finish and set
Add flavoring of your choice, then let it cool.
Once cooled, fold in 3 beaten egg whites until stiff.
Pour the mixture into molds 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.
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.
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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 into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a custard and add richness.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they lighten the mixture with airy volume.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and softens its set texture.
The step that matters
Folding in the egg whites. Once the mixture has cooled, the whites must be folded in gently so the whipped foam keeps its air. Stirring hard would deflate it and leave a denser dessert.
“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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