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Dessert

Bisque Ice Cream

A custard ice cream made with cream, milk, sugar, egg whites, yolks, and ground macaroons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Bisque Ice Cream

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 ↓

Bisque Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine 8 lbs of sugar and 2 gallons of cream in a large pot and heat until it just boils, then remove from heat.

  2. Beat the whites of 24 eggs until stiff peaks form.

  3. While stirring, pour the hot cream mixture over the beaten egg whites.

  4. Add the yolks of the eggs and mix well.

  5. Stir in 1 gallon of milk and 2 additional gallons of cream, then bring the mixture to a boil again.

Finish and serve

  1. Strain the mixture and let it cool before freezing.

  2. When serving, sprinkle ground macaroons on top or serve a macaroon with each dish.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  2. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

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

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

Sugar and milk 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

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they give the ice cream an airy, light structure.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help emulsify the custard base for a smooth texture.
Cream
Supplies fat, which gives the frozen ice cream a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
Milk
Adds liquid and milk solids that contribute to the base's body and flavor.
Ground macaroons
Add a toasty, almond-like flavor and crunch as a topping.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot cream over the egg whites. Pouring slowly while stirring keeps the whites from cooking into lumps and helps the mixture blend evenly into a smooth base.

“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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