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Dessert

Bisque Ice Cream

A frozen dessert of custard or cream flavoured with macaroons, sherry and caramel, made with milk, cream and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Bisque Ice Cream

Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

Bisque Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Prepare the cream and sugar as for vanilla ice cream.

  2. Half freeze it.

  3. Stir in 1 teaspoon each of vanilla and caramel.

Add the flavouring

  1. Pound powdered macaroons with a few kisses and lady fingers, and add 5 tablespoons sherry.

  2. Beat till smooth, take out the dasher and pack.

  3. Dried and powdered brown bread is also used in place of the cakes and wine, stirred in the same way when half frozen.

Make the custard

  1. Bring 1 quart rich milk to the boil; add ¼ cup white sugar and a pinch of salt.

  2. Add 5 to 8 slightly beaten eggs, and when the custard is almost done, stir in 1 cup caramel made from light brown sugar. Add it hot.

  3. When cool, turn into a mold, pack and freeze 3 hours.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

415Calories
15 gProtein
24 gFat
27 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 9 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Ice Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Coffeenot in our table0

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

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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.

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.

  1. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Vanilla + sherrytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together506 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

  3. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + coffeetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,391 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  5. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Eggs
Thicken the custard and add richness and structure to the frozen texture.
Light brown sugar caramel
Adds deep caramel flavour and sweetness to the custard base.
Sherry
Adds aromatic flavour that complements the macaroons and lady fingers.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs to the hot milk. Eggs scramble if they meet very hot milk too fast; adding them slowly to the hot milk and cooking gently keeps the custard smooth and thickened.

“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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