Why it works: Apricot and rum work together. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 149 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓
Cream, with Rum
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the custard
Dissolve gelatine leaves in 1 cup of water.
In a saucepan, combine egg yolks, starch, and powdered sugar; mix well.
Dilute with 1 cup of water and stir over low heat until thickened.
Remove from heat just before boiling and let cool in a bowl.
Finish and set the cream
Dilute apricot marmalade with rum and mix into the cooled cream.
Pass the mixture through a sieve and stir in the dissolved gelatine.
Chill the mixture on ice until thickened, then pour into a mold surrounded by ice.
Once set, dip the mold in warm water, wipe it, and turn the cream out onto a dish.
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.
-
Apricot + rumtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together149 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
-
Sugar + rumtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,908 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
-
Sugar + apricottop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Egg + rumtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,589 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
- Gelatine leaves
- Set the cream into a firm, sliceable structure as it chills.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard base and add richness and smoothness when gently heated.
- Fecula
- Starch that thickens the custard and helps it hold its shape.
- Powdered sugar
- Adds sweetness and dissolves smoothly into the custard base.
- Apricot marmalade
- Adds fruit sweetness, acidity and body to the cream.
- Rum
- Adds aroma and a warm, spirited flavour to the cream.
The step that matters
Stir over low heat and remove before boiling. Egg yolks thicken gently at low heat; if they get too hot they can curdle or scramble, leaving a grainy cream instead of a smooth custard.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, sugar, rum):
- Vanillafits better
- Pineapplefits better
- Bananafits better
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, sugar, rum. 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.
You might also like
Apricot Ice Cream26 recipes
Mixed Fruit Sherbet6 recipes
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.