Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Combine two quarts thick cream, one pound sugar, one pint new milk, and cut a vanilla bean into the mixture.
Heat the mixture over fire, allowing the milk and bean to boil slowly.
Strain the mixture through a wire sieve, letting the small seeds of the bean fall into the cream.
Prepare the almonds
Blanch and pulverize one quart of almonds in a mortar, adding a little new milk to reduce the nuts to a fine paste.
Freeze and finish
When the mixture cools, whip it into a froth and freeze, stirring frequently as it freezes.
Mix the almond paste with one gallon of cream when the cream is nearly frozen.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Cream | 1 tbsp (15ml) heavy | 51 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
| Almond | 1 almond (1.2g) | 7 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
-
Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,800 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,679 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Thick cream
- Provides richness and fat, giving the ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and lowers its freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
- New milk
- Adds liquid and milk solids that help make the base smooth and creamy.
- Almonds
- Contribute nutty flavour and body when ground to a fine paste and mixed in.
The step that matters
Freezing while stirring. Stirring frequently as the mixture freezes breaks up ice crystals, keeping the ice cream smooth rather than grainy or icy.
Swap the almond
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, milk):
- Almondthe original
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Hazelnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, milk. 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.
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