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Dessert

Hot Sweet Entremets

A custard-like dessert made with creme de riz, milk, cream, vanilla sugar, egg yolks, and cinnamon, baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Vanilla and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,287 recipes. Both carry 4-methoxybenzaldehyde, which smells sweet, anise. The science ↓

Hot Sweet Entremets

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Mix the creme de riz with a little cream.

  2. Boil the milk and cream in a saucepan.

Make the custard

  1. Add the vanilla sugar, stir in the egg yolks, and the mixed creme de riz.

  2. Whisk the mixture over gentle heat to bind the eggs without boiling.

  3. Pour into a well-buttered souffle dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and enough vanilla sugar to cover the surface.

  2. Brown the surface in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 10 minutes.

  3. If not browned, hold the dish under a broiler for a few seconds.

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. Vanilla + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  2. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

What each ingredient does

Creme de riz
Thickens the custard as it cooks, giving it a creamy, spoonable body.
Egg yolks
Bind the custard and set it into a rich, tender texture when gently heated.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing moisture and a soft texture.
Cream
Adds fat for a richer, smoother custard with a softer mouthfeel.
Vanilla sugar
Sweetens the custard and, sprinkled on top, caramelizes to brown the surface.

The step that matters

Whisk over gentle heat without boiling. Egg yolks begin to set around 70°C (160°F). If the custard gets too hot or boils, the eggs can scramble and turn grainy instead of smooth and thick.

“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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