Why it works: Sugar and syrup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,842 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Apricot Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the apricots
Remove the stones from the apricots and boil them in a syrup made with ½ lb. of sugar and ½ pint of water until they form a thin marmalade.
Rub the apricot mixture through a sieve.
Make the custard
Boil the milk with the remaining ½ lb. of sugar, then let it cool slightly.
Mix the cooled milk with the beaten egg yolks.
Place the mixture in a jug and set it in boiling water, stirring until it thickens without boiling.
Strain the mixture through a sieve.
Add the isinglass, previously boiled with a small amount of water.
Stir until nearly cold.
Combine and set
Mix the mixture with the apricot puree.
Pour into an oiled mold and refrigerate or place in a cool area until set.
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 + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Apricot + milktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together826 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Apricot + syruptop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together451 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Apricot + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,630 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Apricots
- Provide the main fruit flavour and, once puréed, the body of the cream.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard and add richness through their setting proteins.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base of the custard and carries its richness.
- Isinglass
- Gelatine-like setting agent that firms the cream so it holds its shape.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the apricots and milk and balances the fruit's tartness.
The step that matters
Thickening the custard without boiling. Egg yolks scramble and curdle if they get too hot, so the mixture must be heated gently in a jug set over boiling water and stirred until it thickens.
Swap the apricot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, syrup):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Figfits about as well
- Apricotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, syrup. 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.
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