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 ↓
Barberry Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cream
In an enamelled pan, stir 1 pint of cream with ½ lb of Barberry Jelly and 1 oz of isinglass over low heat.
Once the isinglass and jelly dissolve, remove from heat and add a little cochineal for color.
Sweeten with caster sugar to taste and whisk until frothy.
Set
Pour into a suitable mold and pack in ice to set.
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).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cream
- Provides richness and a smooth, creamy body to the set dish.
- Barberry jelly
- Supplies the tart fruit flavor and the pink-red color of the cream.
- Isinglass
- Gelatin-like setting agent that firms the cream as it chills.
- Caster sugar
- Adds sweetness to balance the tartness of the barberry jelly.
The step that matters
Dissolving the isinglass. Isinglass must fully dissolve in the warm cream and jelly before chilling. Undissolved granules leave a grainy texture and uneven set, so keep the heat low and stir until no particles remain.
“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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