Skip to main content
Dessert

Almond Ice

A frozen dessert made from almond milk, orange flower water, milk, and cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Almond Ice

Why it works: Orange and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,125 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Almond Ice

Ingredients

Directions

Make the almond milk

  1. Pound the sweet and bitter almonds in a marble mortar, adding a few drops of water as needed.

  2. Once thoroughly pounded, mix in the orange flower water and the milk.

  3. Strain the mixture through a cloth, squeezing tightly to extract the liquid.

Make the custard and freeze

  1. In a saucepan, boil the remaining milk with the cream, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon.

  2. When the mixture thickens, pour in the almond milk and bring to a boil.

  3. Remove from heat and let it cool in a bowl or pitcher before pouring into a mold for freezing.

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. Orange + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,125 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,696 recipes

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

  3. Cream + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,130 recipes

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

  4. Milk + almondtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,800 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sweet almonds
Provide the main almond flavour and rich, oily body to the base.
Bitter almonds
Add a concentrated, sharp almond aroma that balances the sweetness.
Cream
Adds fat for a smooth, rich texture that resists iciness when frozen.
Milk
Forms the liquid base and, when heated, thickens with the cream into a custard.

The step that matters

Boil the milk and cream while stirring constantly. Milk proteins can scorch on the bottom of the pan and form lumps if left unstirred. Constant stirring with a wooden spoon spreads the heat evenly and keeps the mixture smooth as it thickens.

Swap the orange

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

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, cream, almond. 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 almond ice recipes

Cream 33Burnt Cream 7 See all 4 →

You might also like

Orange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesOrange Cream Rice PuddingOrange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipesOrange GelatinOrange Gelatin100 recipesOrange SherbetOrange Sherbet73 recipes