Name: Grape Ice Creak
Ingredients: 1 quart of unfermented grape juice; 1 quart of cream; 1 pound of sugar; juice of 1 lemon

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Grape Ice Creak

Ingredients

1 quart of unfermented grape juice
1 quart of cream
1 pound of sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Directions

Make the base

Combine grape juice, cream, sugar, and lemon juice in a bowl and mix well until sugar is dissolved.

Churn and freeze

Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.
Freeze until firm and serve cold.

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.

Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Grape + lemontop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,412 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Grape + sugartop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,490 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Grape + creamtop 29% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,284 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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

Cream: Adds fat and richness, giving the ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar: Sweetens the base and lowers its freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer and scoopable.
Grape juice: Provides the main grape flavor and liquid for the base.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the grape flavor.