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Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream made with cream, milk, eggs, sugar, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Ice Cream

Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Scald the milk in a double boiler or in a can set inside a kettle of water, but do not boil.

  2. Beat the yolks of the eggs well, add the sugar, and beat again.

  3. Whip the egg whites until stiff and fold them into the yolk and sugar mixture.

  4. Pour the hot milk into the egg mixture a little at a time, stirring constantly.

  5. Return the mixture to the can and cook until it thickens like boiled custard.

Finish and churn

  1. Strain the mixture through a sieve, let it cool, then add the cream and vanilla.

  2. Pour the mixture into an ice cream freezer and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.

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. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  5. Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 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

Eggs
Yolks thicken the custard as they cook, while whipped whites add lightness and air.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the egg custard thickens into a smooth mixture.
Cream
Adds fat, which makes the frozen ice cream rich and smooth in texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard. Heat must be gentle and the mixture must be stirred constantly. Egg yolks can scramble if they get too hot, leaving lumps instead of a smooth, thickened custard.

“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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