Name: Orange Ice Ceeam
Ingredients: 6 oranges; 1 pint water; 2 cups sugar; 4 egg whites, beaten; 4 egg yolks, beaten; 1 pint whipped cream

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 ↓

Orange Ice Ceeam

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

Peel and squeeze the juice from the oranges, removing the seeds.
Combine the juice and peel in a saucepan with water, sugar, and beaten egg whites.
Mix carefully and heat over low heat to avoid curdling.

Make the custard

Strain the mixture and let it cool, then stir in the beaten egg yolks.
Return to low heat until the yolks are cooked, then remove and stir until cold.

Freeze

Pour the custard into a freezer, and when it starts to freeze, add the whipped cream and freeze rapidly.

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.

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together42,166 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Orange + creamtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,170 recipes

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

Orange and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,212 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: Thicken the custard and give it a rich, smooth texture when heated gently.
Egg whites: Add structure and help the mixture set as it is heated.
Whipped cream: Adds air and fat, making the frozen ice cream lighter and creamier.
Sugar: Sweetens the mixture and lowers its freezing point so it stays softer.
Oranges: Provide the main citrus flavour from the juice and peel.