Skip to main content
Dessert

Dutch Cream

A custard made with milk, cream, egg yolks, vanilla, and sugar, cooked slowly until thickened.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Dutch Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Beat the yolks of the eggs well.

  2. Gradually add the milk, then the cream, sugar, and chopped vanilla.

  3. Mix all together and set on a slow fire, stirring with a wooden spoon.

  4. When the cream adheres to the spoon, it is ready.

Strain and serve

  1. Strain through a colander into a serving dish and serve cold.

  2. Garnish with small pink ratafias if desired.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Vanilla and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard as they gently set with heat, giving it a smooth body.
Cream
Adds fat for a rich, velvety texture and a smooth mouthfeel.
Milk
Provides liquid that dilutes the yolks and keeps the custard soft and pourable.
Loaf sugar
Sweetens the custard and helps keep its texture smooth.
Vanilla
Contributes the main aroma of the custard.

The step that matters

Cook slowly and stir until the cream coats the spoon. Egg yolks thicken gently, but too much heat or too little stirring can scramble them and make the custard grainy. Stopping when it coats the spoon sets it without overcooking.

“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

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes