Why it works: Milk and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 88,785 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Dissolve the gelatine in a small amount of milk over low heat.
In a large bowl, combine the remaining milk, sugar, and eggs.
Add the dissolved gelatine to the mixture and stir well.
Finish and freeze
Flavor as desired, then freeze the mixture until solid.
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 + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Milk
- Provides the liquid base and dairy richness that makes the ice cream creamy.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer when frozen.
- Eggs
- Add richness and emulsifying proteins that help give the mixture a smooth, custard-like body.
- Gelatine
- Forms a gel network that stabilises the texture and helps prevent large ice crystals.
The step that matters
Dissolve the gelatine fully before combining. Gelatine must be completely dissolved in warm liquid before it is mixed in; undissolved granules can leave gritty or rubbery spots and uneven setting in the frozen mixture.
“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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