What Can I Make with Cream and Egg?

Egg proteins unwind and link together at around 70C, trapping whatever liquid is around them. That is the whole trick of custard, and cream is the ideal liquid for it because its fat gets between the proteins and slows them down. A cream custard sets later, more gently and far more forgivingly than the same mixture made with milk, which is why almost every classic in this family calls for cream rather than milk alone.

The ratio decides what you get. Roughly one whole egg to 100ml of cream gives the loose, sliceable set of a quiche filling. More yolks and fewer whites gives the dense, spoonable richness of crème brûlée and pot de crème, because yolks bring fat and emulsifiers while whites bring the rubbery proteins you do not want in a dessert. Add sugar and the set goes softer still, which is why flan and custard tarts need either a longer bake or a little starch to hold their shape.

Heat control matters more than any other variable. Overshoot and the proteins contract and squeeze out the liquid they were holding, so a smooth custard turns grainy and starts to weep. That is why quiches and flans are baked in a moderate oven, often in a water bath, and why stirred custards are held below a simmer. Carbonara is the extreme version of the same idea: the eggs and cream never touch direct heat at all, and are brought together off the burner using the residual warmth of the pasta so they thicken instead of scrambling.

Custrd matches the cream and eggs in your kitchen against tested recipes and tells you exactly what else each one needs.