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Consomme Royale

A clear consommé served with a custard of eggs, cream, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Consomme Royale

Oven, in the book's wordsA very moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a very moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure. The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare the custard

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, beat together the egg yolks and whole eggs.

  3. Add nutmeg, salt, and white pepper or cayenne, and mix well.

  4. Stir in the cream and strain the mixture into six well-buttered dariole molds.

Bake and cut

  1. Place the molds in a baking pan and pour hot water halfway up the sides.

  2. Bake until the centers are firm, about 30-40 minutes.

  3. Let cool, then carefully turn out and cut into slices.

  4. Stamp out in fancy shapes and drop into a soup tureen or plates.

Serve

  1. Add hot consommé and 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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + white peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Nutmeg + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Set the custard firm while adding richness and a smooth texture.
Whole eggs
Coagulate on heating to give the custard its firm, sliceable structure.
Cream
Adds fat for a softer, silkier custard texture.

The step that matters

Baking the custard in a water bath. Eggs set when heated gently; too much heat causes curdling, cracks, or a rubbery texture. Surrounding the molds with hot water moderates the oven heat, and the custard should be removed once the centers are just firm.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, nutmeg, cream, butter):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, nutmeg, cream, butter. 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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