Why it works: Nutmeg and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
London Syllabub
Ingredients
Directions
Make the syllabub
In a bowl, combine the wine, grated nutmeg, and sugar.
Froth the milk and add it to the bowl.
If the wine is not tart, add more wine to balance the milk.
Serve
In Devonshire, top with clotted cream and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and sugar.
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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Nutmeg + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,917 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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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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Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,655 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Sugar + cinnamontop 10% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30,779 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Sugar and cinnamon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 30,779 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
- Port or white wine
- Its acidity thickens the milk into a soft, spoonable cream and balances the sweetness.
- Milk
- Forms the bulk of the cream, and frothing it adds air for a lighter texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the wine and counterbalances its tartness.
The step that matters
Adding the frothed milk to the wine. The acid in the wine is what thickens the milk into a light, set cream. If the wine is not tart enough, the mixture stays thin, so tasting and adding more wine before serving matters.
“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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