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 ↓
Ratafia Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Flavour the cream
In a saucepan, boil the thin cream with the laurel or peach leaves for 3-4 minutes.
Strain the mixture and combine it with the rich sweet cream.
Thicken and set
Add the beaten egg whites and sweeten with pounded loaf sugar.
Stir gently over low heat until thickened.
Pour into a china dish and let it cool completely.
Once cold, decorate with sweetmeats shaped like flowers or sprinkle with harlequin comfits.
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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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Cream + laureltop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,129 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Laurel + eggtop 34% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,883 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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
- Thin cream
- Carries the leaf flavour and forms the base of the custard.
- Rich sweet cream
- Adds fat and body, giving the cream a rich, smooth texture.
- Egg whites
- Coagulate on gentle heating, thickening the cream into a soft set.
- Laurel or peach leaves
- Infuse the cream with their distinctive almond-like aroma.
The step that matters
Stir gently over low heat until thickened. Egg whites set when heated, but high heat or vigorous stirring can curdle or grain the mixture. Gentle, low heat keeps it smooth and evenly thickened.
“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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