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Vanilla Ice Cream

A frozen dessert made from vanilla, sugar, milk, egg yolks, cream, and a pinch of salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Vanilla Ice Cream

Why it works: Vanilla and milk 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 ↓

Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Pound the vanilla and mix it with the sugar.

  2. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve.

  3. Add the milk and egg yolks.

  4. Simmer over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.

Finish and freeze

  1. Once cool, add the cream and salt.

  2. Freeze and mold as usual.

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. Vanilla + milktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

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

  2. Vanilla + sugartop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

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

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together12,301 recipes

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

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

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

Vanilla and sugar 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

Egg yolks
Their proteins thicken the milk mixture into a smooth, rich custard as it gently simmers.
Sugar
Sweetens the base and, by lowering the freezing point, keeps the ice cream soft and scoopable.
Cream
Adds fat, which makes the frozen ice cream creamy and tender rather than icy.
Milk
Provides the liquid base that the yolks thicken and the cream enriches.
Vanilla
Supplies the main flavour, which is carried by the sugar when the vanilla is pounded into it.

The step that matters

Simmer the custard gently while stirring constantly. Egg yolks thicken at low heat but can scramble if overheated or left unstirred. Constant stirring over low heat keeps the custard smooth and evenly thickened.

“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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