Why it works: Cream and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 24% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓
Baked Puddings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the custard
Combine the cream and the cream from the bones in a bowl.
Add the egg yolks and mix well.
Incorporate the lard pieces, salt, and spices to taste.
Cook and serve
Pour the mixture into a cloth and boil until set.
Serve with ravigote sauce.
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.
-
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
- Egg yolks
- Set the custard as their proteins coagulate, giving it a firm, sliceable body.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, creating a smooth, tender texture.
- Lard
- Adds fat that enriches the custard and gives it a rich mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Boiling until set. Egg yolks set through gentle heat. If the mixture boils too hard or for too long, the proteins tighten and turn grainy or curdled instead of smooth and firm.
“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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.