Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Italian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the gelatine in cold water until soft.
Make the custard
In a double boiler, combine milk, egg yolks, and sugar; cook until thickened.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Assemble and set
Pour the custard over the beaten egg whites and mix gently.
Add the flavoring and stir until combined.
Pour the mixture into molds and refrigerate until set.
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the dessert so it holds its shape when chilled.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base and adds creamy richness to the custard.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness and colour.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the milk and yolks.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard until thickened. Egg yolks thicken gently as they heat, but if the heat is too high they can scramble into lumps. A double boiler keeps the heat low and even, giving a smooth custard.
“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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