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Dessert

Brandy Cream

A custard-like dessert made with almonds, milk, egg yolks, cream, sugar, brandy, and thin cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Brandy Cream

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 ↓

Brandy Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Boil the blanched and pounded bitter almonds in the milk.

  2. When cold, add the beaten egg yolks and cream, then sweeten.

Thicken and serve

  1. Mix in the brandy and pour in the thin cream.

  2. Heat gently, stirring continuously until it thickens, but do not let it boil.

  3. Pour into cups or low glasses and let cool before serving.

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.

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.

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

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

  2. Milk + brandytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,738 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Cream + brandytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,635 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  4. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  5. Almond + milktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the cream as they set with gentle heat, giving a smooth, rich custard texture.
Sugar
Sweetens the cream and balances the bitterness of the almonds and brandy.
Bitter almonds
Provide the characteristic almond aroma and flavour after being boiled in the milk.
Brandy
Adds a strong spirited aroma and flavour to the cream.
Thin cream
Supplies fat for a rich, smooth mouthfeel and body.

The step that matters

Heat gently, stirring continuously until it thickens, but do not let it boil.. Egg yolks set at low temperatures. If the mixture boils, the yolks can scramble and curdle, leaving the cream grainy instead of smooth and thickened.

“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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