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 ↓
Milk Shake
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare sugar syrup according to directions for ices.
Sweeten ½ pint of unskimmed milk with the syrup.
Add ½ teaspoon of vanilla to the milk.
Shake and serve
Pour the mixture into a shaker glass and fill with crushed ice.
Shake vigorously before pouring into a chilled tumbler.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + syruptop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,842 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Syrup + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,855 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Unskimmed milk
- Forms the liquid base and its fat gives the shake body and creaminess.
- Sugar syrup
- Adds sweetness and blends smoothly into the cold liquid.
- Vanilla
- Adds aroma and a rounded flavour.
- Crushed ice
- Chills the drink and, as it melts, thins it slightly.
The step that matters
Shake vigorously. Vigorous shaking chills the mixture, partly melts the ice and aerates the liquid, giving a cold, smooth, evenly mixed shake. A brief shake leaves the drink warm, uneven and less foamy.
“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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