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Dessert

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

A frozen dessert made by browning sugar, mixing with milk and eggs, and freezing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the burnt sugar

  1. Take 1/2 pound of sugar.

  2. Brown half of it in a saucepan.

  3. Stir in sufficient water to bring to a liquid state.

Make the base

  1. Add the other sugar, with 1 pint of milk and 4 eggs well beaten.

  2. Flavor strongly with lemon or vanilla.

Freeze

  1. Freeze.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

276Calories
14 gProtein
13 gFat
25 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By North End Club (Chicago, Ill.). 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. See the original page.

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 + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

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

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

  3. 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

Sugar
Browned sugar adds caramel flavor and sweetness, and sugar keeps the frozen texture softer.
Milk
Supplies the liquid and creaminess that make up the body of the frozen base.
Eggs
Enrich the base and help it freeze smooth and custard-like rather than icy.

The step that matters

Browning the sugar. Sugar moves from amber to bitter black within moments of over-browning. Adding water stops the caramelization and produces a liquid syrup that blends smoothly into the 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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