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Maple Ice Cream

Maple ice cream made with egg yolks, almonds, maple syrup, and whipped cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,130 recipes. Both carry 2-heptanol, which smells bitter, floral. The science ↓

Maple Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Beat the egg yolks in a bowl.

  2. Add the maple syrup and cook in a double boiler, stirring constantly until thick.

  3. Remove from heat and continue to beat until the mixture is half cold.

Finish and freeze

  1. Once cooled, fold in the chopped almonds and whipped cream.

  2. Freeze the mixture until solid.

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. Almond + creamtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

  2. Maple syrup + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together607 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Almond + maple syruptop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together283 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  4. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Egg + maple syruptop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,156 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
Cooked gently with the syrup, they thicken the base into a smooth, rich custard.
Maple syrup
Provides the main sweetness and maple flavour, and helps the custard stay soft after freezing.
Whipped cream
Adds air and fat, making the frozen ice cream light and creamy rather than icy.
Almonds
Add crunch and a nutty contrast to the smooth, sweet base.

The step that matters

Cook the custard until thick, stirring constantly. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but overheated yolks can scramble and curdle. A double boiler and constant stirring keep the heat gentle and the custard smooth.

Swap the almond

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, maple syrup, cream):

  1. Pecansfits better
  2. Walnutfits about as well
  3. Nutsfits about as well
  4. Almondthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, maple syrup, cream. 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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