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Dessert

Ginger Cream

A chilled dessert made with cream, eggs, ginger, sugar, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Ginger Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak gelatine in a little water.

  2. Separate the yolks from the whites of the eggs.

  3. Beat the egg whites until stiff.

  4. Combine sugar with the egg yolks and beat until smooth.

Make the cream

  1. Boil the cream.

  2. Dissolve the soaked gelatine in the boiled cream.

  3. Return the mixture to the pan.

  4. Add the diced ginger.

  5. Stir over low heat until thickened.

  6. Add the syrup of ginger and the beaten egg whites.

  7. Mix well.

Set and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a wetted mold.

  2. Refrigerate until cold.

  3. Turn out the ginger cream when 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. Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,842 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  3. Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Ginger + syruptop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together950 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Ginger + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together14,054 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

Ginger and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 14,054 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
Provides the rich fat base that gives the set cream its smooth, dense body.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard as they heat, and whipped whites add lightness and airy texture.
Gelatine
Sets the cooled cream into a firm, sliceable shape that holds its form when turned out.
Preserved ginger
Adds the main ginger flavour and small chewy pieces throughout the cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and balances the sharpness of the ginger.

The step that matters

Stir over low heat until thickened. Egg yolks begin to thicken around 70°C and can scramble if overheated, leaving lumps. Gentle, constant stirring over low heat keeps the custard smooth before the gelatine sets it.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, sugar, syrup):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Peppermintfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, sugar, syrup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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