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 ↓
Creme Patissiere, or Pastry Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Gradually add the beaten yolks of the eggs to the flour, stirring briskly.
Slowly incorporate the boiling cream in small portions.
Transfer the mixture to a clean saucepan and stir over low heat until thick.
Remove from heat, stir well, and return to low heat to simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.
Finish and flavor
Pour into a basin and immediately add the sugar, butter, and lemon rind.
If desired, mix in the crushed ratifias for added flavor.
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 + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the cream as they set on gentle heat, giving the pastry cream its body and richness.
- Fine flour
- Stabilizes the custard by absorbing liquid and thickening it along with the yolks.
- Cream
- Provides moisture and richness, giving the custard a smooth, silky texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the yolks, cream and butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a smooth, rich mouthfeel and glossy finish.
The step that matters
Stirring the yolks into the flour and cooking over low heat. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if they are heated too quickly or too hot. Briskly stirring the yolks into the flour before adding the boiling cream, and keeping the heat low while cooking, lets the starch and yolk proteins thicken together smoothly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, cream, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, cream, sugar, 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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