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Dessert

Caramel Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream flavored with caramel and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Caramel Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Mix flour, half of the sugar, salt, and egg in a bowl.

  2. Gradually add the milk to the mixture.

  3. Cook over low heat for 20 minutes until thick.

Add caramel and finish

  1. Add the remaining sugar that has been caramelized.

  2. Once the custard is cool, stir in the cream and chopped almonds.

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. Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,673 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Cream
Adds fat and richness for a smooth, creamy texture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard.
Sugar
Provides sweetness, and the caramelized portion adds deeper, browned flavor.
Flour
Thickens the custard base as it cooks.
Egg
Its proteins set with heat, helping the custard thicken.
Almonds
Add crunch and a nutty flavor.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard over low heat. Egg proteins set with heat, so cooking too fast can scorch the base or curdle the egg. Low heat lets the custard thicken gently and evenly.

“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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