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Dessert

Spanish Cream

A custard-like dessert made with rice flour, egg yolks, water, orange‑flower water, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and orange are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,067 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Spanish Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, combine rice flour, egg yolks, water, and orange-flower water.

  2. Add the cream and place the mixture over low heat.

  3. Stir continuously until thickened.

Cool and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into cups and let it cool.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Rice + orangetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

  5. Flour + orangetop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,821 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Rice flour
Thickens the custard as its starch swells and sets when heated.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as their proteins set, and add richness.
Cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture.
Orange-flower water
Adds a floral aroma.

The step that matters

Stirring continuously over low heat until thickened. Starch and egg proteins thicken gradually. High heat or stopping to stir can curdle the egg yolks or scorch the bottom of the pan, leaving lumps or a burnt taste.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, flour, egg, cream):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Vanillafits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, flour, egg, cream. 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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