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 ↓
Bavarian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Soak the gelatin in 1 quart of milk for ½ hour.
In a saucepan, combine the soaked gelatin, sugar, and eggs.
Boil the mixture for a few minutes until thickened.
Add your chosen flavoring and mix well.
Set and serve
Pour the mixture into molds and refrigerate until set.
Serve cold, preferably with cream.
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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Sugar + eggtop 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 structure as it chills.
- Eggs
- Thicken the mixture as they cook and add richness to the custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the gelatine sets and the eggs thicken.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the flavor of the milk and eggs.
The step that matters
Boil the mixture until thickened. Eggs thicken as they cook, but if they overheat they can curdle and turn grainy. Heating gently while stirring keeps the custard smooth.
“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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