Why it works: Sugar and cream 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-Ceeam
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Bring the milk to a boil.
In a bowl, beat together the sugar, flour, and eggs.
Stir the mixture into the boiling milk and cook for 20 minutes, stirring often.
Finish and freeze
Once cooled, add another cup of sugar, the flavoring, and the cream.
Freeze the mixture until solid.
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.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Set when heated, thickening the custard and adding richness and structure.
- Flour
- Thickens the cooked mixture so it holds together and feels smoother.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the thickened custard is cooked in.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen texture softer rather than rock hard.
- Cream
- Adds fat, which gives the finished ice cream a rich, smooth texture.
- Flavoring extract
- Provides the main aroma and flavor of the finished ice cream.
The step that matters
Stirring the eggs and flour into the boiling milk. Eggs and flour can clump or curdle if they hit hot liquid unevenly. Stirring often spreads the heat and starch so the custard thickens smoothly.
“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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