Skip to main content
Dessert

Vanilla Ice Cream

A custard-based vanilla ice cream made with milk, cream, eggs, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla extract.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Vanilla Ice Cream

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 ↓

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, and cornstarch.

  2. Heat the milk in a double boiler and gradually add the egg mixture.

  3. Cook until the mixture thickens, then let it cool.

Finish and freeze

  1. Stir in the vanilla and cream.

  2. Freeze the mixture until solid.

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. Cream + vanillatop 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

Eggs
Egg proteins set when heated, thickening the custard and giving the ice cream body.
Sugar
Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer when frozen.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard as it heats, adding body and helping prevent a grainy or icy texture.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and milk solids that add richness and creaminess once cooked.
Cream
Adds milk fat, which makes the ice cream smoother and richer in texture.

The step that matters

Cook until the mixture thickens. Heating the egg and cornstarch mixture until it thickens gels the starches and egg proteins. Undercooked custard stays thin and can curdle or taste eggy, while the right thickness gives a smooth, creamy base.

“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.

More vanilla ice cream recipes

French 5Plain 5Diabetic 3 See all 203 →

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes