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Dessert

Creams and Ices

A frozen dessert made with milk, egg yolks, sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and rum, chilled in ice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Creams and Ices

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Scald the milk in a double boiler.

  2. Beat the egg yolks lightly and mix with the sugar.

  3. Slowly pour the scalded milk over the egg mixture.

  4. Return to the double boiler and stir constantly until it coats the back of a spoon, but do not let it boil.

  5. Set aside to cool.

Freeze and serve

  1. When ready to freeze, add the cream and vanilla.

  2. Once frozen, add the rum and churn for five minutes.

  3. Pack down in ice with plenty of coarse sea salt for two hours.

  4. Serve as you would punch.

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.

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. Vanilla + rumtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together728 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Milk + rumtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together967 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Egg yolks
Thicken the custard and add richness as they set gently over heat.
Heavy cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture and softer freezing.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream scoopable.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard.
Rum
Adds flavor and, as alcohol, keeps the ice cream softer when frozen.

The step that matters

Return to the double boiler and stir constantly without boiling. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but if the custard gets too hot it can curdle or scramble. Gentle, constant stirring until it coats a spoon gives a smooth custard.

“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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