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 ↓
Cream Pie
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, sugar, cream, and butter, and mix until well combined and smooth.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form to make a meringue.
Bake and serve
Spread the meringue over the cream mixture and brown slightly 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.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Sugar + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the filling as they set and add richness to the custard.
- Egg whites
- Whip into a stiff foam that forms the light, airy meringue topping.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the filling and helps stabilise the whipped egg white meringue.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, giving the filling a smooth, soft texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smooth mouthfeel in the filling.
The step that matters
Brown the meringue slightly in the oven. Meringue can over-brown quickly because its sugar caramelises at high heat, and the egg yolks in the filling can overcook and curdle if the oven is too hot or the bake runs too long. Watch it closely and remove it once lightly golden.
“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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