Skip to main content
Dessert

Frozen Custard

A custard mixture of milk, sugar, cornstarch, eggs, vanilla, and optional cream, chilled and frozen.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Frozen Custard

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 Custard

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Combine the milk and sugar in a double boiler.

  2. Mix the cornstarch with a little cold milk.

  3. Stir in the beaten egg yolks.

  4. Pour the hot milk over the cornstarch mixture and return it to the boiler.

  5. Stir until slightly thickened, then strain the mixture.

Finish and freeze

  1. Fold in the beaten egg whites.

  2. Add 1 pint of cream before freezing, if available.

  3. Freeze the mixture.

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.

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

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

  4. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

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

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

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

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

Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard and carries the sweetness and richness.
Eggs
Egg yolks thicken the custard as it heats, and whites add lightness when folded in.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard so it holds a smooth, scoopable texture after freezing.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and softens the frozen texture by lowering the freezing point.
Cream
Adds fat, which makes the frozen custard richer and creamier.

The step that matters

Stir until slightly thickened, then strain the mixture.. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if overheated. Gentle, constant stirring over the double boiler keeps the custard smooth, and straining removes any bits that set.

“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.

You might also like

Vanilla Ice CreamVanilla Ice Cream108 recipesWhite CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipes