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Winter Fruits with Vermouth Sabayon and Cherry Ripple Ice Cream

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and vermouth work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 61 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Cook30 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Split the vanilla pod lengthwise, scrape the seeds into the milk, add the pod, and heat the milk and double cream together until steaming but not boiling. Remove from the heat and leave to infuse for 10 minutes.

  2. Whisk the 6 egg yolks with 175g/6oz caster sugar. Pour in the warm cream mixture slowly, whisking, then return it to the pan and stir over low heat until thickened to 160°F (71°C). Strain, cool, and chill.

  3. Put the chopped black cherries and 75ml/3fl oz water in a small pan. Simmer for 5 minutes until soft, mash lightly, and cool.

  4. Churn the chilled custard in an ice cream maker. Layer the churned ice cream in a freezer container with the cherry mixture, swirl gently, and freeze for at least 4 hours.

  5. Halve and core the pears, then poach them in simmering water with the juice of the half lemon for 8 to 10 minutes until tender. Drain and cool.

  6. For the sabayon, whisk the 4 egg yolks, 110g/4oz caster sugar and 110ml/4fl oz vermouth in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water for about 8 minutes until thick and pale, reaching 160°F (71°C). Keep warm.

  7. Place a pear half on each plate with the blackberries and whole black cherries. Add a scoop of cherry ripple ice cream and spoon the warm vermouth sabayon over the top.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Cream + vermouthtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together61 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Vanilla + peartop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together334 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Milk + vanillatop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together19,175 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + sugartop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together35,031 recipes

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

  5. Cream + sugartop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together43,437 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 35,031 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the pear

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, milk, vanilla, egg, sugar, vermouth, lemon):

  1. Orangebetter flavor fit
  2. Strawberrybetter flavor fit
  3. Blackberrybetter flavor fit
  4. Pearthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, milk, vanilla, egg, sugar, vermouth, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).