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Hamburg Cream

A lemon custard dessert made with eggs, sugar, gelatin, and lemon rind.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Hamburg Cream

Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Hamburg Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Separate the eggs.

  2. Beat the yolks until light, then add ⅓ cup sugar and beat until very light.

  3. Beat the egg whites until light and stiff.

  4. Combine lemon juice and remaining sugar.

  5. Soak the gelatin in ¼ cup cold water for 30 minutes.

Make the cream

  1. Heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture reaches boiling point.

  2. Add the gelatin to the boiling mixture.

  3. Stir until it reaches boiling point again.

  4. Carefully stir in the yolks and sugar mixture, cooking until it begins to thicken.

  5. Add the grated lemon rind and remove from heat.

  6. Fold in the beaten egg whites a spoonful at a time, beating constantly.

Set and serve

  1. Quickly pour the mixture into a mold (earthenware is best).

  2. Let it cool.

  3. Serve with or without whipped cream.

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. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together44,316 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + gelatintop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,215 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-pinene (pine, resin).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and whites, folded in, give the cream a light, airy texture.
Gelatin
Sets the cooled mixture so it holds its shape when turned out or spooned.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that balances the sweetness and brightens the flavour.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and helps the egg yolks thicken smoothly when heated.

The step that matters

Stirring the yolks into the hot mixture. If the hot mixture is added to the yolks too quickly or left to boil hard, the eggs can scramble and become grainy. Stir the yolks in carefully and cook only until the mixture begins to thicken.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg, gelatin. 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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