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Dessert

Caramel Ice Cream

A custard ice cream flavored with caramelized brown sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Caramel Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it reaches boiling point.

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar.

  3. Pour half of the hot milk over the egg mixture and stir well.

  4. Return the mixture to the saucepan and add the remaining milk and cornstarch mixed with a little cold milk.

  5. Stir constantly until the mixture thickens to a custard consistency.

Add the caramel and finish

  1. In an iron frying pan, heat the brown sugar until it dissolves and becomes liquid, then pour it hot into the custard.

  2. Once the custard is cool, stir in the vanilla extract and fold in the whipped heavy cream.

  3. Freeze the mixture until solid.

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.

  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. 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).

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
Their proteins set when heated, thickening the custard into a smooth base.
Cornstarch
Swells when heated with liquid, thickening the custard so it holds its body.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and richness, and whipped air gives the frozen ice cream a lighter texture.
Brown sugar
Caramelises when melted, adding deep toffee flavour and sweetness.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, providing moisture and dairy flavour.

The step that matters

Stirring the custard until it thickens. Egg proteins and cornstarch thicken the mixture as it heats, but if it is left unstirred or overheated the eggs can scramble and curdle, leaving lumps instead of a smooth 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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