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Self-freezing Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream made by freezing with ice and rock salt.

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 ↓

Self-freezing Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk.

  2. Pour the heated milk over the eggs and sugar.

  3. Cook while stirring for 15 minutes until thickened.

  4. Let the mixture cool.

  5. Add the cream.

  6. Set the mixture on ice.

  7. Beat in the cream.

Freeze

  1. Place the mixture in a freezer set in a pail.

  2. Crush a block of ice between carpets and layer it in the pail with rock salt.

  3. Fill the pail with alternating layers of custard, ice, and salt.

  4. Beat the custard for 5 minutes with a flat stick.

  5. Shut the pail tightly.

  6. Pack more crushed ice and salt around it.

  7. Cover with a folded carpet.

  8. After 1.5 hours, open the freezer.

  9. Wipe off the salt.

  10. Beat the custard until smooth.

  11. Replace the cover.

  12. Let off the water.

  13. Pack in more ice and salt.

  14. Let the cream set for 4 hours.

  15. Check every 2 hours to let off water and add more ice and salt.

Serve

  1. When ready to serve, remove the cream.

  2. Wipe it off.

  3. Wrap a hot towel around the bottom.

  4. Invert onto a flat dish.

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. Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Cream + vanillatop 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

Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that will freeze into ice cream.
Eggs
Thicken the custard when cooked and add richness and structure to the frozen cream.
Sugar
Sweetens the custard and lowers its freezing point so it stays softer.
Rich cream
Adds fat, which makes the frozen cream smooth and rich rather than icy.
Vanilla
Adds aroma and flavour to the custard.

The step that matters

Cook the custard while stirring. Stirring keeps the eggs from scrambling onto the bottom of the pan. Cooking gently until the custard thickens sets the eggs evenly, giving a smooth base for freezing.

“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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