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Dessert

Italian Cream

A custard-like dessert made with milk, gelatin, sugar, vanilla, and eggs, chilled until firm.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Italian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the custard

  1. Soak the gelatine in ½ cup cold water for 30 minutes.

  2. Heat the milk in a double boiler until it boils.

  3. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until light.

  4. Stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk and cook for 30 seconds.

Set and chill

  1. Remove from heat and add the soaked gelatine, beaten egg whites, and vanilla.

  2. Allow the mixture to cool until it begins to thicken.

  3. Pour into a mold and refrigerate until hardened.

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.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Egg yolks
Enrich the milk and thicken it gently into a smooth custard when heated.
Gelatine
Provides the firm, sliceable set once the mixture is chilled.
Egg whites
Add lightness and a soft, airy texture to the set dessert.
Milk
Forms the creamy base that the custard and gelatine set within.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the milk and yolks.

The step that matters

Stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if added to very hot liquid too quickly. Adding the yolk mixture gradually and keeping the heat controlled helps keep the custard smooth.

“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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