Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Cheese Fresh
Ingredients
Directions
Make the curd
Sweeten the cream with sugar and bring it to a boil until thin.
Add damask rosewater and stir continuously to prevent burning.
Once thickened, remove from heat.
Drain and serve
Wash the strainer and cheese vat with rosewater.
Roll the curd in the strainer to drain the whey.
Transfer the curd to the vat as soon as it cools.
Place it into the cheese dish with some whey and serve.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Its milk fats and proteins thicken on heating and set into the soft curd.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness to the cream.
- Damask rosewater
- Adds a floral aroma that flavors the cheese.
The step that matters
Stir continuously while thickening. Cream's milk sugars and proteins scorch quickly on the hot bottom of a pan. Constant stirring spreads the heat evenly and prevents a burnt taste and dark specks in the curd.
“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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