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Dessert

Frozen Custard

A chilled custard made from milk, cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and optional lemon oil or almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
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Frozen Custard

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 ↓

Frozen Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the flavorings

  1. Slice a vanilla bean.

  2. Boil the vanilla bean slowly in half a pint of milk until all the strength is extracted and the milk is highly flavored with vanilla.

  3. Strain the vanilla decoction and set it aside.

Make the custard

  1. Mix a quart of cream and a pint of milk, or if you cannot procure cream, take three pints of rich milk, and put them into a skillet or sauce-pan.

  2. Set the pan on hot coals and boil the mixture.

  3. When it has come to a boil, mix a tablespoon of flour into three tablespoons of milk, and stir it into the boiling liquid.

  4. Beat two eggs with two tablespoons of milk, then pour them slowly into the mixture while stirring continuously.

  5. Keep stirring the mixture while it is boiling.

  6. Five minutes after, stir in gradually half a pound of powdered loaf-sugar, and then the vanilla decoction.

  7. Stir the mixture vigorously for a few moments, then take it off the fire and set it to cool.

Freeze

  1. When quite cold, put the custard into a mould and freeze it, as you would ice-cream.

  2. (Optional) Before taking it from the fire, stir in a teaspoon of strong oil of lemon, or add a quarter pound of shelled bitter almonds that have been blanched, pounded with a little water, and boiled in half a pint of milk until the flavor is extracted.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

285Calories
15 gProtein
19 gFat
13 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Almond1 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.

By Eliza Leslie. 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.

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

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

  2. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  3. Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Sugar + almondtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Eggs
Thicken the custard as they set when beaten into the hot mixture.
Cream
Adds richness and fat, giving the frozen custard a smooth, creamy texture.
Powdered loaf-sugar
Sweetens the custard and lowers its freezing point for a softer texture.
Flour (in the method)
Helps thicken the custard base as it boils.
Vanilla bean (in the method)
Provides the main aroma, infused into milk before being added.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs to the boiling mixture. If the eggs are poured in too quickly or not stirred continuously, they can scramble instead of thickening the custard smoothly. Constant stirring disperses the egg proteins evenly.

Swap the almond

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

  1. Almondthe original
  2. Pecansfits about as well
  3. Pistachiofits less well
  4. Chestnutfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, sugar, 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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