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 ↓
Italian Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Dissolve the gelatine and sugar in the sherry.
Whip the cream until stiff.
Strain the sherry mixture into the whipped cream and stir gently.
Set and serve
Allow to stand until cold, stirring occasionally.
Pour into a wetted china mold and let set.
Once set, turn out onto a serving plate.
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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Sherry + creamtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,038 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
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Sherry + sugartop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,141 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
- Cream
- Whipped to air, it gives the dessert a light, rich body.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the sherry.
- Sherry
- Provides the liquid base and the main flavour.
The step that matters
Stir gently when combining the sherry mixture and the whipped cream. Whipped cream holds its volume through trapped air bubbles. Vigorous stirring knocks that air out, leaving a denser, less airy set dessert.
“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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