Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Italian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatin or isinglass in cold water for 2 hours.
Make the custard
Boil the sour milk in a saucepan, stirring often.
Once the milk has boiled and the gelatin is dissolved, stir in the well-beaten egg yolks.
Sweeten and add flavoring to taste.
Mold and set
Pour the mixture into molds that have been lightly coated with a mixture of egg white and water.
Let it stand for at least 10 hours before serving.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,778 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Gelatin + vanillatop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together924 recipes
Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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
- Sour milk
- Provides the tangy, dairy base that the cream sets from.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help thicken the mixture as it sets.
- Gelatin
- Sets the liquid mixture so it holds its shape when unmolded.
The step that matters
Stir in the egg yolks after the milk has boiled and the gelatin has dissolved. Egg yolks scramble if they meet very hot milk too quickly. Stirring them in once the mixture is off the boil and the gelatin is fully dissolved helps keep the custard smooth and evenly set.
“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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