Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓
Orange Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the oranges
Cut the oranges into small pieces and sprinkle with sugar.
Make the custard
In a saucepan, combine milk, egg, sugar, and cornstarch to make a thin custard.
Cook the custard until thickened.
Let the custard cool, then pour it over the oranges.
Garnish with whipped cream and keep in a cool place until ready to serve.
Make the meringue topping
For a thicker custard, use the same ingredients and make a meringue with the egg whites and sugar.
Spread the meringue over the custard.
Brown the meringue in the oven.
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.
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Orange + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,696 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and milk 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
- Oranges
- Provide the fruit base and bright citrus flavor under the custard.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid body of the custard that thickens when heated.
- Egg
- Helps thicken the custard and adds richness as it sets.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the custard by swelling in hot liquid as it cooks.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a foam that forms the meringue topping and browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard until thickened. Cornstarch and egg thicken only when heated enough, but overheating can curdle the egg and leave the custard lumpy or thin. Stir steadily and cook just until it coats a spoon.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, milk, egg, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, milk, egg, cream. 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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