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 ↓
Whipped Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Put the double cream into a cold basin.
Sweeten the cream.
Flavor the cream.
Whip the cream
Whisk the cream in a cold place until it froths on top.
Skim off the froth.
Place the froth on a fine sieve.
Whisk again until the cream is finished.
Reserve the liquid that drains from the froth for celery sauce.
If the cream thickens too much, add a spoonful of cold water.
Add the egg white
Beat the egg white to froth.
Add the frothy egg white before whisking.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Sugar + eggtop 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).
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
- Double cream
- Its fat traps air as it is whisked, forming the foam that becomes the whipped cream.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and helps the foam hold its shape.
- Egg white
- Its proteins trap air and form a light, stable foam that adds volume to the cream.
The step that matters
Stopping the whisking. Whipping cream past the point of soft, holding peaks makes the fat clump and turn grainy, and it can separate into butter and liquid. Stop as soon as the cream holds its shape.
“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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