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Dessert

Spanish Cream

A chilled gelatin-based custard made with egg yolks, milk, sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Spanish Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the gelatine

  1. Soak the gelatine in cold water until soft.

  2. Dissolve the gelatine in boiling water.

Make the custard

  1. In a double boiler, mix the beaten egg yolks with sugar and salt.

  2. Pour in hot milk. Stir thoroughly.

  3. Cook until thickened.

  4. Add the strained gelatine, vanilla, and beaten egg whites. Mix well.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into cold water-wetted moulds.

  2. Refrigerate until firm.

  3. Turn out onto a platter. Serve.

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. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Egg + sugartop 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

Gelatine
Sets the cooled custard into a firm, sliceable structure that holds its shape when turned out.
Egg yolks
Thicken the milk mixture into a smooth custard and add richness.
Egg whites
Add lightness and airy texture to the set cream.
Milk
Forms the creamy base that the eggs thicken and the gelatine sets.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the eggs and milk.

The step that matters

Cook until thickened. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overheating can curdle them into a grainy texture. Cooking gently in a double boiler keeps the custard smooth before the gelatine is added.

“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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