Why it works: Vanilla and strawberry are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,385 recipes. Both carry p-vinylguaiacol, which smells spicy, fruity. The science ↓
Peaches Melba Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Heat the cream with the split vanilla bean in a double boiler.
Beat the egg yolks and powdered sugar until light.
Add the egg mixture to the hot cream, stirring until it thickens.
Strain the mixture through a sieve and cool it before freezing.
Make the syrup
Combine the strawberry and raspberry syrups in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
Dissolve the corn starch in a little water and add it to the boiling syrup.
Remove from heat and cool.
Prepare and serve
Peel fresh peaches and chill them on ice.
Serve the ice cream topped with the syrup and peaches.
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.
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Vanilla + strawberrytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,385 recipes
Shared aroma: p-vinylguaiacol (spicy, fruity).
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Strawberry + raspberrytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together815 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, sweet).
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Vanilla + raspberrytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together950 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl benzoate (fruity, sweet).
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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Vanilla and sugar 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 cream as they set with heat, giving the custard its richness and smooth body.
- Cream
- Provides fat and richness, giving the ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the custard and helps keep the frozen texture soft and smooth.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the fruit syrup so it coats the ice cream rather than running off.
- Strawberry syrup
- Adds fruity sweetness and flavour to the sauce served over the ice cream.
- Raspberry syrup
- Adds tart fruity flavour and colour to the sauce served over the ice cream.
The step that matters
Stirring the egg mixture into the hot cream. If the cream is too hot or stirring is too slow, the egg yolks can scramble instead of thickening smoothly. Stirring constantly and heating gently keeps the custard silky.
Swap the raspberry
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, vanilla, sugar, strawberry, syrup, corn):
- Peachfits about as well
- Blueberryfits about as well
- Raspberrythe original
- Bananafits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, vanilla, sugar, strawberry, syrup, corn. 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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