Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Boil half of the milk.
Add the corn starch and boil again.
Remove from heat and stir in the yolks of the eggs without boiling.
Finish and freeze
Strain the mixture over the beaten egg whites and beat thoroughly.
Add the remaining milk with dissolved sugar and let it cool.
Add flavoring and beat frequently while freezing.
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.
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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 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, adding richness and body to the finished ice cream.
- Eggs
- Yolks thicken and enrich the base, while beaten whites add air for a lighter texture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the boiled milk so the base becomes smooth and holds together.
The step that matters
Stir in the yolks off the heat, without boiling. Egg yolks scramble and curdle when they get too hot. Removing the milk from heat first lets the yolks thicken the base gently and 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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