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 ↓
Vanilla Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Beat the yolks of 3 eggs and 1 white in a bowl with a wooden spoon.
Stir in ½ pint of milk.
Pour the mixture into a jug.
Fill a saucepan half full of hot water and bring it to a boil.
Once boiling, move the saucepan to the side of the heat.
Place the jug of custard in the saucepan and stir continuously until it thickens.
Remove the jug from the water and let it cool.
Soak 1 ounce of gelatine in 2 tablespoons of cold water in a small saucepan.
Heat the saucepan and stir until the gelatine is completely melted.
Strain the melted gelatine and stir it into the custard.
Whisk ½ pint of double cream in a bowl until stiff.
Add 1 tablespoon of caster sugar and ½ teaspoon of essence of vanilla to the cream.
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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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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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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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar and vanilla 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
More vanilla cream recipes
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