Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Spanish Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gelatine and milk
Dissolve the gelatine over a kettle.
Boil the milk in a separate pot.
Make the custard
Quickly stir the dissolved gelatine into the boiling milk.
Beat the egg yolks with the sugar and add to the mixture.
Remove from heat when well scalded and fold in the beaten egg whites.
Flavor to taste and pour into a mold.
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 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
- Gelatine
- Sets the liquid into a firm, sliceable structure as it cools.
- Milk
- Forms the creamy base and provides moisture for the set dessert.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich the custard and add richness and smooth body.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the cream and softens the flavor of the eggs and milk.
- Egg whites
- Beaten and folded in, they add airy lightness to the cream.
The step that matters
Stir the gelatine into the milk quickly. Gelatine that is added slowly or unevenly can clump or set in streaks as it meets the hot milk. Stirring briskly disperses it evenly so the dessert sets smoothly and uniformly throughout.
“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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