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Dessert

Russian Cream

A custard dessert made with milk, eggs, gelatin, sugar, vanilla, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Russian Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Soak the gelatine in the milk.

  2. Heat the mixture over low heat until the gelatine is completely dissolved.

  3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with the sugar.

  4. Stir the yolk mixture into the milk and gelatine, stirring constantly until it thickens and reaches boiling point.

Set and flavor

  1. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Pour the custard mixture over the beaten egg whites and beat together until well combined.

  3. Add the vanilla and pour the mixture into a mold to harden.

Serve

  1. For serving, make a plain custard with 1 pint of milk, cool it, and flavor with sherry to taste.

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. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Vanilla + sherrytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

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

  5. Vanilla + brandytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together806 recipes

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

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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard and whites, beaten to stiff peaks, give the dessert its light, airy body.
Gelatine
Sets the mixture as it cools, giving it a firm, sliceable structure.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the gelatine.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and sweetens the yolks when beaten together.

The step that matters

Thickening the yolk mixture into the milk and gelatine. Egg yolks thicken when heated but can curdle or scramble if the heat is too high or stirring stops. Stirring constantly keeps the custard smooth and lets it thicken evenly before it reaches boiling point.

“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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