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 ↓
Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Put the milk in a double boiler with the vanilla bean split into halves.
Beat the sugar and eggs to a cream.
Stir into the hot milk and beat briskly until thick.
Remove from the fire.
Strain.
Freeze
When cold, freeze.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Sugar | 1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated | 49 |
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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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar 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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the eggs thicken into a smooth custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and helps keep the frozen cream soft and scoopable.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the custard as they heat and add richness and emulsifying fat.
The step that matters
Stir into the hot milk and beat briskly until thick. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if the custard gets too hot or is not stirred constantly, they can scramble. Removing it from the heat once it coats a spoon keeps it smooth.
“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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