Why it works: Milk and strawberry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,130 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Tutti Frutti
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the custard
Prepare 2 gallons of rich boiled custard and sweeten to taste.
Dissolve 2 tablespoons of gelatine in ½ cup of cold milk.
Freeze and mix
Let the custard cool, then place it in a freezer.
As soon as it begins to freeze, add 1 pound of raisins, 1 pint of strawberry preserves, and 1 quart of whipped cream. Stir well to combine.
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.
-
Milk + strawberrytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Strawberry + creamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,525 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Milk + raisintop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,155 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (acides aroma).
-
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Raisin + strawberrytop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together39 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatine
- Sets softly as it chills, giving the frozen dessert body and a smoother texture.
- Whipped cream
- Adds airiness and richness, lightening the custard's texture as it freezes.
- Strawberry preserves
- Adds fruit flavour and sweetness, along with some colour and soft pieces of fruit.
- Raisins
- Add chewy texture and concentrated sweetness throughout the frozen custard.
The step that matters
Add the mix-ins as the custard begins to freeze. If the custard is fully frozen, the cream and preserves won't blend evenly; if it is still liquid, they sink and the texture stays loose. Adding them at the first sign of freezing lets them distribute before the mixture firms.
Swap the raisin
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, strawberry, cream):
- Vanillafits better
- Raspberryfits better
- Bananafits better
- Raisinthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, strawberry, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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.
More tutti frutti recipes
You might also like
Strawberry Ice Cream122 recipes
Strawberry Sherbet48 recipes
Strawberry Water Ice24 recipes
Strawberry Foam7 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.