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Dessert

Spanish Cream

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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

Make the custard

  1. Dissolve gelatin in milk over low heat.

  2. Add sugar and pour slowly onto slightly beaten egg yolks.

  3. Return to double boiler and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

Finish and set

  1. Once cool, add salt, vanilla, and beaten egg whites.

  2. Mold the mixture and chill until set.

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. Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  4. Gelatin + vanillatop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together924 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  5. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 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

Gelatin
Sets the mixture into a firm, sliceable body as it chills.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness and a smooth texture.
Egg whites
Add lightness and an airy, delicate texture to the set cream.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that carries the gelatin and sets into the cream.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and balances the richness of the yolks and milk.

The step that matters

Cook the yolk custard until thickened, stirring constantly. Egg yolks scramble if they get too hot or are added to hot liquid too quickly. Pouring slowly and stirring over a double boiler keeps the custard smooth and lets it thicken gently.

“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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