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 ↓
Royal Cream Pie, American
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the filling
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a saucepan, mix flour, sugar, and milk, and bring to a boil.
Gradually add cream, bringing the mixture back to a boil.
Remove from heat and beat in the eggs, leaving out 2 egg whites.
Line a pie plate with flaky crust and pour in the cream mixture.
Bake and top
Bake until the surface is golden brown.
Beat the reserved egg whites with 1 ounce of sugar and a little spice, then spread on top in a rocky fashion.
Return the pie to the oven to brown the topping.
Serve with fruit on the side and offer sugar for sweetness.
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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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + gingertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,564 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Eggs
- Set the custard as they cool and add richness and structure to the filling.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving the filling a smooth, tender texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooked mixture so it holds its shape when sliced.
- Milk
- Provides liquid that cooks with the flour into a thickened base and adds moisture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps the egg whites form a stable, browned topping.
The step that matters
Bring the flour mixture to a boil before adding the cream. Flour starch only thickens fully when it reaches a boil, so the base must be properly cooked before the cream is added and it is brought back to a boil. Undercooked starch leaves the filling thin and pasty.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, flour, sugar, egg, milk):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Jalapenofits better
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, flour, sugar, egg, milk. 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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