Why it works: Milk and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 77,875 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Stone Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the cream
Place a thick layer of greengage jam or any other jam in the bottom of a glass dish.
Boil the isinglass in the milk or cream until dissolved.
Sweeten the mixture to taste.
Pour the isinglass mixture over the jam.
Allow it to cool completely until solid.
Serve
Serve as a delicious dessert.
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.
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Isinglass
- Dissolves in the hot milk or cream and sets on cooling, giving the dessert its firm, wobbly structure.
- Milk or cream
- Forms the body of the custard layer, adding richness and a smooth, creamy texture.
- Greengage jam or other jam
- Forms the fruity base layer under the set cream, adding sweetness and acidity.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream layer to taste, balancing the richness of the milk or cream.
The step that matters
Boil the isinglass in the milk or cream until dissolved. Isinglass is a gelatin-like protein that must fully dissolve in the hot liquid; if it is undissolved, the cream will not set evenly when cooled.
“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
White Cake431 recipes
Pound Cake373 recipes
Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes
Spice Cake344 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.