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 ↓
A Very Fine Italian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cream
Whip together the scalded cream, raw cream, lemon rind, lemon juice, and powdered sugar for nearly an hour.
Add the sweet wine and continue whisking until the mixture becomes quite solid.
Drain and set
Place a piece of muslin in a sieve and ladle the cream onto it with a spoon.
After 20 hours, carefully turn it out, ensuring it does not break.
Serve
Garnish with fruit jelly or flowers.
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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Lemon + winetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,157 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + winetop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,887 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Cream + lemontop 30% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,640 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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
- Scalded cream
- Provides richness and body, giving the cream its thick, smooth texture.
- Raw cream
- Adds fat and moisture, keeping the set cream soft and creamy.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens flavour and helps the mixture thicken as it whisks.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the cream and dissolves easily into it for a smooth texture.
- Sweet wine
- Adds sweetness and aroma, flavouring the cream as it is whisked in.
The step that matters
Whisking until quite solid. Whisking must continue until the mixture firms noticeably, because the cream needs enough air and structure to hold its shape after draining and turning out. Stopping early leaves it too soft to unmould cleanly.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, wine):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, wine. 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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