Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Boil the cream and let it cool.
Stir in the sugar gradually until well mixed.
Strain the mixture through a sieve into a tin with a close cover.
Freeze
Place the tin in a tub filled with small pieces of ice and a large quantity of salt, ensuring no salt gets into the cream.
Scrape the cream down with a spoon as it freezes around the edges.
Gradually stir in the lemon juice or the juice of mashed strawberries or raspberries while it freezes.
Once frozen, dip the tin in lukewarm water and remove the ice cream.
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.
-
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
-
Lemon + almondtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,655 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Almond + rosetop 11% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,465 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Lemon + rosetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,174 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,130 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rich cream
- Provides the fat and body that make the ice cream smooth and rich.
- Powdered loaf sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps soften the texture by lowering the freezing point.
- Lemon juice or strawberries or raspberries
- Adds acidity and flavour that brightens the sweet, rich cream.
The step that matters
Scrape the cream down as it freezes. Ice forms first along the cold edges of the tin. Scraping mixes these ice crystals back into the unfrozen cream, keeping the texture smooth rather than icy and grainy.
Swap the almond
The recipe marks almond as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, sugar, lemon, rose):
- Pistachiofits about as well
- Almondthe original
- Chestnutfits less well
- Walnutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, sugar, lemon, rose. 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.
More ice cream recipes
You might also like
Lemon Cake228 recipes
Lemon Ice147 recipes
Lemon Sherbet103 recipes
Lemon Custard64 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.