Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Violet Parfait
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Boil sugar and water until it reaches the soft ball stage.
Pour the syrup over the beaten egg whites and beat until cold.
Fold and freeze
Add violet extract and fold in the whipped cream until combined.
Transfer the mixture into a mold and bury it in salt and ice for 4 hours.
Serve
Serve with a border of whipped cream and garnish with candied violets.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Sugar
- Dissolved in water and cooked to a syrup, it sweetens the parfait and gives it a smooth, firm body.
- Egg whites
- Beaten into a foam with the hot syrup, they give the parfait its light, airy structure.
- Heavy cream
- Whipped and folded in, it adds richness and a creamy, soft texture that holds the frozen shape.
- Violet extract
- Adds the floral aroma that defines the flavor of this dessert.
The step that matters
Pour the syrup over the beaten egg whites and beat until cold. The syrup must be hot enough to cook the egg whites safely and form a stable foam. Pouring it in a slow, steady stream while beating keeps the foam from deflating, and beating until cold ensures the mixture is cool enough to fold into the cream without melting it.
“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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