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Ginger Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream flavored with preserved ginger and its syrup.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Ginger Ice Cream

Why it works: Cream and syrup are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,964 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Ginger Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Scald the cream.

  2. Gradually pour the hot cream over the beaten egg yolks.

  3. Return the mixture to a double boiler and cook until it thickens to a custard consistency.

Finish and freeze

  1. Remove from heat and stir in the finely chopped ginger and some of the syrup.

  2. Freeze the mixture using 1 part salt and 3 parts ice.

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.

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.

  1. Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Ginger + syruptop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together950 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Cream + gingertop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Egg + syruptop 32% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,995 recipes

Cream and egg 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

Cream
Provides fat and richness, giving the frozen ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
Egg yolks
Thicken the custard as they cook and add richness and emulsifying power.
Preserved ginger
Supplies the main aroma and spicy flavour of the ice cream.
Syrup from the ginger
Adds sweetness and extra ginger flavour to the base.

The step that matters

Adding the hot cream to the yolks. Pouring the hot cream in gradually, while whisking, warms the yolks slowly so they do not scramble. Cooking the custard gently in a double boiler lets it thicken smoothly without curdling.

Swap the ginger

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

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