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Dessert

Oriental Cream

A chilled dessert made from milk, egg yolks, prunes, cream, gelatin, egg whites, sugar, and candied fruit or nuts.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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 ↓

Oriental Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard base

  1. Heat the milk and gradually add it to the beaten yolks of the eggs.

  2. Cook the prunes, sweeten them, and pass through a colander.

  3. Add the prunes, cream, and flavoring to the egg and milk mixture.

  4. Freeze the mixture as usual.

Make the gelatine meringue

  1. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  2. Dissolve the gelatine in half of the cold water by cooking it.

  3. Add the remaining cold water to the dissolved gelatine and pour into a pitcher.

  4. While beating the egg whites, slowly add the gelatine mixture, about 1 teaspoon at a time.

  5. Carefully add the sugar.

Assemble and chill

  1. Pour into a mold lined with paper.

  2. Add the chopped fruit and nuts, either layering them or mixing them in.

  3. Cover and place on ice immediately.

  4. It can be served after two hours or up to two days later with 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.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  2. Milk + pineappletop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together885 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  3. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Milk + meattop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,703 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Enrich the base and add richness and colour through their fat and emulsifying proteins.
Egg whites
Whipped to stiff foam, they give the dessert its light, airy structure.
Gelatine
Sets the liquid mixture so it holds its shape when chilled and unmolded.
Cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and mouthfeel.
Prunes
Contribute sweetness, body, and fruity flavour to the base.

The step that matters

Adding the gelatine mixture to the whipped whites. Gelatine must be added slowly, in a thin stream while beating, so it disperses evenly. Added too quickly or when too hot, it can clump or deflate the foam, and the mixture may not set uniformly.

Swap the pineapple

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Raisinfits better
  4. Pineapplethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, cream, sugar, meat. 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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