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 ↓
Cream Custard
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Whisk the eggs in a bowl.
In a saucepan, mix the cream and whisked eggs with the powdered sugar.
Heat the mixture over moderate heat, stirring until it nearly boils but does not curdle.
Remove from heat and strain through a fine sieve.
Flavour and freeze
Once cooled, add your chosen flavoring and freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
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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Egg + sugartop 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
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard as they heat and set, giving it a rich, smooth body.
- Fresh cream
- Provides fat and richness, giving the frozen result a smooth, creamy texture.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves easily into the cream, softening the frozen texture.
The step that matters
Heating the custard gently. Egg proteins set when heated, so over-high heat can scramble the eggs and make the custard grainy. Stirring over moderate heat until it nearly boils keeps it smooth. Straining afterward catches any small set bits.
“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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