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Delmonico Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream with pecans, fruits, and sherry.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and cream 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 ↓

Delmonico Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the eggs until the whites and yolks are well mixed.

  2. Add the milk and sugar, then heat gently without boiling.

  3. Remove from heat and add the cream, then strain into a freezing can.

Freeze

  1. Freeze for 12 minutes, then open the can and add the pecan pieces, chopped fruits, and sherry wine.

  2. Continue freezing until fully 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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Milk + sherrytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,479 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  3. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the custard base and add richness and structure to the ice cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the base and lowers its freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
Cream
Adds fat, which makes the ice cream smooth and rich in texture.
Milk
Provides liquid and milk solids that form the body of the custard base.
Pecan pieces
Add crunch and nutty flavour that contrasts with the smooth base.
Sherry wine
Adds aroma and flavour; alcohol also slightly softens the frozen texture.

The step that matters

Heating the milk and sugar without boiling. Gentle heat lets the egg base thicken smoothly; boiling can curdle or scramble the eggs, leaving a grainy texture.

“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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