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Dessert

Spanish Cream

A chilled cream dessert made with water, isinglass, cream or milk, egg yolks, wine or lemon peel, and sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Spanish Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Boil the water and dissolve the isinglass in it.

  2. Strain the mixture.

  3. Mix the dissolved isinglass with the cream or milk.

  4. Stir over heat until it comes to a boil.

Finish and set

  1. Once slightly cooled, gradually add the beaten egg yolks and white wine or lemon peel.

  2. Pour into a deep dish.

  3. Sweeten with pounded sugar.

  4. Stir until cold.

  5. Transfer to a mold and refrigerate until set.

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

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

  2. Cream + white winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,760 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

  3. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. White wine + sugartop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,586 recipes

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

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

Isinglass
Sets the cream into a firm, sliceable custard when chilled.
Cream or milk
Provides the rich body and creamy texture of the dish.
Egg yolks
Thicken and enrich the custard, adding colour and richness.
White wine or lemon peel
Adds acidity and aroma that balance the richness of the cream.

The step that matters

Gradually add the egg yolks after the mixture cools slightly. Adding beaten yolks to a very hot mixture can scramble them. Cooling it slightly and adding the yolks gradually lets them blend smoothly and thicken the custard evenly.

“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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