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Dessert

Maple Parfait

A chilled dessert made from maple syrup, egg yolks, heavy cream, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Maple syrup and cream work together. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 607 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Maple Parfait

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Combine maple syrup and beaten egg yolks in a saucepan.

  2. Cook over medium heat, stirring continually until it boils.

  3. Boil for 5 minutes, then strain and set aside to cool.

Prepare the parfait

  1. Beat heavy cream until stiff.

  2. Fold in beaten egg whites.

  3. Whip the cooled syrup until very light.

  4. Stir all ingredients together.

  5. Mold the mixture.

  6. Pack it in ice and salt for 3 hours.

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. Maple syrup + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together607 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Maple syrup + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,156 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Maple syrup
Provides the main sweetness and maple flavour, and thickens with the yolks when cooked.
Egg yolks
Thicken the syrup into a smooth custard base as they cook.
Heavy cream
Whipped to stiff peaks, it adds richness and a light, creamy texture.
Egg whites
Folded in whipped form, they add airiness and lightness to the frozen mixture.

The step that matters

Cooking the syrup and yolks. Stirring continually over medium heat keeps the yolks from scrambling. Once cooked, the mixture should be smooth and thickened, and boiling it for the stated time ensures it is fully set before cooling.

“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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