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Dessert

Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream made with milk, egg yolks, gelatin, corn starch, and cream, sweetened and flavored with vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Ice Cream

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 ↓

Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the gelatin in cold milk for 1 hour.

  2. Heat the milk over boiling water until scalding hot.

  3. Blend corn starch with 2 tablespoons of milk.

Make the custard

  1. Add egg yolks and beat thoroughly.

  2. Pour the egg mixture into the hot milk, stirring constantly until cooked.

  3. Let the mixture cool completely.

Finish

  1. Add an equal amount of cream.

  2. Sweeten to taste.

  3. Flavor with vanilla extract.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Corn + vanillatop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,943 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  4. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness through their fat and proteins as they cook.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk mixture so the base becomes smooth and creamy when heated.
Gelatine
Sets the frozen mixture softly, helping it hold its shape and resist icy crystals.
Cream
Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture and a more luxurious mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Pour the egg mixture into the hot milk, stirring constantly until cooked. Egg proteins set at around 160°F and can scramble if the mixture is heated too fast or left unstirred. Constant stirring keeps the custard smooth and evenly thickened.

“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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