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 ↓
Ratafia Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Crush the ratafia biscuits into fine crumbs.
Make the cream
In a saucepan, combine the crushed biscuits, cream, sugar, and egg yolks.
Boil the mixture together, then whisk until cold.
Freeze the mixture until solid.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Biscuit + creamtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,235 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Biscuit + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,874 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream and egg 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
- Ratafia biscuits
- Crushed into crumbs, they add a sweet almond flavour and body to the cream.
- Cream
- Provides richness and fat, giving the frozen dessert a smooth, creamy texture.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the mixture when heated gently and add richness through their fat and emulsifiers.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and softens the texture of the frozen result.
The step that matters
Boiling the mixture with the egg yolks. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can scramble if overheated. Bring the mixture just to a boil while stirring, then whisk it as it cools so it stays smooth and custard-like.
“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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