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Dessert

Meringue Glace

A frozen dessert made with milk, cream, gelatin, sugar, vanilla, and meringue topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Meringue Glace

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the cream base

  1. Bring 1 cup of milk to a boil.

  2. Soak 1 tablespoon of gelatin in 4 tablespoons of cold water for 1 hour.

  3. Stir the gelatin into the boiling milk.

  4. Strain the mixture into 1 quart of rich cream.

  5. Add 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract.

  6. Freeze the mixture.

  7. Pack the frozen mixture with plenty of salt.

  8. Let it stand until solid.

Make the meringue and serve

  1. Beat 6 egg whites to stiff peaks.

  2. Gradually add 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar to the egg whites.

  3. Turn the frozen cream into a cold dish.

  4. Cover the frozen cream with the meringue.

  5. Brown the meringue in a very hot oven at 400°F (200°C).

  6. Serve immediately.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Gelatin + creamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

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

Gelatin
Sets the frozen cream so it holds a firm, sliceable texture.
Rich cream
Provides fat and richness, giving the frozen base a smooth, creamy texture.
Egg whites
Whipped into stiff peaks to form the airy, light meringue topping.
Granulated sugar
Sweetens the base and helps keep it soft enough to scoop when frozen.
Powdered sugar
Stabilizes the whipped egg whites and adds sweetness to the meringue.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Whites must be whipped until they hold stiff peaks so the meringue stays airy and browns well. Underbeaten or greasy whites will not hold their volume.

“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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