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
Beat the eggs and sugar together until well combined.
Mix the egg and sugar mixture with the cream and milk.
Flavor the mixture to your taste.
Freeze
Place the mixture in a freezer can.
Layer pounded ice and coarse sea salt around the can, using plenty of salt.
Stir the mixture constantly and rapidly as it begins to freeze.
Stir slower as the mixture thickens.
As the ice melts, drain off the water and add fresh layers of ice and salt.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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
- Cream
- Provides fat and richness, giving the ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
- Milk
- Adds liquid and dairy solids that help form the base while keeping it lighter than cream alone.
- White sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers its freezing point, keeping the ice cream soft rather than rock hard.
- Eggs
- Egg yolks act as emulsifiers and thickeners, adding body and a smoother texture.
The step that matters
Stirring while the mixture freezes. Constant, rapid stirring as the base begins to freeze breaks up ice crystals and incorporates air, keeping the texture smooth. Stirring too slowly at this stage lets large crystals form and the ice cream turns grainy.
“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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