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Dessert

Frozen Apricots

A chilled apricot dessert made with apricots, sugar, water, whipped cream, gelatin, eggs, vanilla, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla 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 ↓

Frozen Apricots

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the apricots

  1. Cut the apricots into small pieces.

  2. Add sugar and water to the apricots and freeze; when nearly frozen, add the whipped cream.

Make the custard

  1. Dissolve one-half of a one-ounce package of Cox's gelatin in one quart of cold milk.

  2. Place the mixture in a tin pail, set the pail in a kettle of cold water, and heat until the water boils for two minutes.

  3. Stir in the yolks of four beaten eggs mixed with four tablespoonfuls of sugar; let the mixture remain in the boiling water for five minutes longer.

Finish and set

  1. Beat the egg whites to a stiff froth and add four tablespoonfuls of sugar after they are stiff.

  2. Take the mixture from the stove, stir in the beaten egg whites, flavor with one teaspoonful of vanilla and one-half teaspoonful of lemon, pour into a mold, and set in a cold place.

  3. Serve with whipped cream.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

351Calories
15 gProtein
19 gFat
30 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Waternot 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 Chippewa Falls, Wis. Episcopal church. Ladies aid society. [from old catalog]. 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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,961 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla 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

Apricots (in the method)
Provide the main fruit flavor and body of the frozen dessert.
Eggs
Their proteins set during gentle heating, thickening the custard and giving it structure.
Whipped cream
Adds air and richness, giving a light, creamy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and adds creaminess.
Sugar
Sweetens the dessert and softens the texture of the frozen fruit.

The step that matters

Stir in the yolks while the mixture is in boiling water. Egg yolks thicken as their proteins set with heat, but overheating or too-rapid heating can curdle them. Keep the custard at a steady heat and stir continuously to keep it smooth.

Swap the lemon

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

  1. Strawberryfits better
  2. Figfits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, milk, sugar, vanilla, egg. 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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