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Dessert

Hokey Pokey Ice Cream

A frozen dessert made from corn starch, milk, sugar, vanilla, cream, egg whites, and gelatin.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Hokey Pokey Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Dissolve corn starch in milk in a large pot.

  2. Add sugar to the mixture.

  3. Heat over low fire until it boils and thickens.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Stir in vanilla extract, cream, and egg whites.

  6. Dissolve gelatin in hot water. Stir the gelatin into the mixture.

  7. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve.

  8. Let the mixture cool.

Freeze and serve

  1. Freeze the mixture.

  2. Pack the frozen mixture into molds.

  3. Place the molds in a tub of ice.

  4. Let it stand for one to two hours.

  5. Cut into slices.

  6. Wrap slices in wax paper.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,628 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

Corn starch
Thickens the milk mixture as it heats and boils, giving the ice cream body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the other ingredients are dissolved and suspended in.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
Cream
Adds fat, which gives a rich texture and smoother mouthfeel.
Egg whites
Add protein that helps structure and body in the mixture.
Gelatin
Stabilizes the mixture and helps give a firm, smooth texture.

The step that matters

Heat over low fire until it boils and thickens. Corn starch only thickens fully once it reaches a boil, but heating too fast can scorch the milk on the bottom of the pot. Low heat with steady stirring lets the starch swell evenly without burning.

“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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