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Dessert

Biscuit Glace

A chilled dessert made from cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and crushed macaroons.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Margaret Brown · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Biscuit Glace

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine one and a half pints of cream, 12 ounces sugar, 8 yolks of eggs, and 1 tablespoonful extract of vanilla.

  2. Pound 6 ounces crisp macaroons in a mortar to a dust.

  3. Stir the macaroon dust into the mixture and add another tablespoonful extract of vanilla.

  4. Mix the cream, sugar, eggs, and extract.

  5. Place the mixture on the fire and stir until it begins to thicken.

  6. Strain and rub through a hair sieve into a basin.

Freeze and finish

  1. Put the mixture in the freezer.

  2. When nearly frozen, mix in the macaroon dust and finish the freezing.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

190Calories
7 gProtein
11 gFat
14 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Vanilla1 tsp extract (4ml)12

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

By Margaret Brown. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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

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

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

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

  3. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

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

  5. Vanilla + eggtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together27,347 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

Cream
Forms the rich, smooth body of the dessert and keeps it creamy after freezing.
Egg yolks
Thicken the mixture as they heat and add richness and a custard-like texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the texture by limiting hard ice crystals.
Crisp macaroons
Add a toasty, almond-like flavor and a fine crumbly texture.
Vanilla extract
Adds aroma and rounds out the sweetness of the dessert.

The step that matters

Thickening on the fire. Egg yolks set as they heat, so the mixture can curdle or turn grainy if it gets too hot. Stirring constantly and stopping once it just begins to thicken 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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