Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Creme Patissiere, or Pastry Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Gradually add the beaten yolks of the eggs to the flour, stirring briskly.
In portions, add the boiling cream or cream and milk mixture to the flour and egg mixture.
Transfer to a clean saucepan and stir over low heat until thickened.
Remove from heat and stir well, then return to heat and let simmer for 6 to 8 minutes.
Finish and flavour
Pour into a basin and immediately add the pounded sugar and butter.
Mix in the crushed ratifias or your chosen substitute and lemon rind if desired.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Thicken the cream as they set, giving the pastry cream its rich, smooth body.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture with starch, giving it structure once cooked.
- Cream
- Provides moisture and richness, giving the custard a soft, creamy texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for a glossy finish and a smoother, richer mouthfeel.
- Pounded sugar
- Sweetens the custard and balances the richness of the yolks and butter.
The step that matters
Stirring over low heat until thickened. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated. Gentle heat and constant stirring let the starch thicken the cream before the yolks set.
Swap the lemon
The recipe marks lemon as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, egg, cream, sugar, butter):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits better
- Coconutfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, egg, cream, sugar, butter. 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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