Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Orange Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Boil the milk with the rind of 2 oranges and the sugar.
Cool the mixture slightly.
Add the cooled milk to the egg yolks.
Return the mixture to the saucepan.
Stir over low heat until it thickens.
Pour the mixture into a basin.
Finish and set
Add the juice of the oranges to the basin.
Whip the cream to a froth.
Mix the whipped cream into the basin.
Dissolve the gelatin in a little boiling water.
Add the dissolved gelatin to the basin.
Mix thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into a wet mold.
Serve with slices of orange.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard base as they set on gentle heat, giving richness.
- Gelatine
- Sets the mixture so it holds its shape when turned out.
- Double cream
- Whipped, it adds lightness and a smooth, creamy body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the sharpness of the orange juice.
- Orange juice
- Adds bright citrus flavour and acidity to the set cream.
The step that matters
Stir over low heat until it thickens. Egg yolks set at gentle heat; too much heat curdles them into lumps, so the custard must be stirred slowly and kept below a simmer.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, cream, egg, milk):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, cream, egg, milk. 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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