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Dessert

Curds and Cream

A cheese made by curdling milk with rennet, then draining whey, molding curds, and adding cream with nutmeg and colored confections.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Curds and Cream

Why it works: Cream and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,920 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Curds and Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the curd

  1. Heat the milk until just warm.

  2. Stir in the rennet and let it sit until curds form.

  3. Drain off the whey and fill a mold with the curd.

  4. Let it stand for 1-2 hours, then turn it out.

Finish and serve

  1. Strew colored confections over the curd.

  2. Sweeten the cream, mix in grated nutmeg, and pour it around the curd.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

  1. Cream + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  2. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Milk
Forms the body of the curd once coagulated into solid curds.
Rennet
Enzyme that coagulates the milk proteins, separating curds from liquid whey.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, giving a smooth, creamy texture around the curd.

The step that matters

Let the curd set undisturbed. Rennet needs time and gentle, undisturbed conditions to form a firm curd. Moving or stirring too early leaves a soft, weak curd that breaks apart when drained and unmolded.

“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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