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Vanilla Cream

A frozen vanilla custard made from milk, vanilla bean, egg yolks, sugar, rich cream, and sea salt.

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

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 ↓

Vanilla Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Boil the milk with the vanilla bean in a muslin bag until flavored.

  2. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until well combined.

  3. Add the vanilla milk to the rich cream and heat over low fire.

  4. Gradually stir in the egg mixture and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.

Freeze and serve

  1. Strain the mixture into a freezer and freeze until very hard.

  2. If using a mold, place it in hot water, then in cold, and turn it out.

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. Milk + vanillatop 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
Thicken the custard and add richness through their proteins and fat.
Rich cream
Adds fat and richness, giving the ice cream a smooth, creamy texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and dilutes the fat for a lighter body.
Vanilla bean
Provides the aroma and flavor infused into the milk.

The step that matters

Bring the custard to a boil while stirring constantly. The egg yolks can scramble if they overheat or sit still. Constant stirring keeps heat even so the custard thickens smoothly instead of curdling.

“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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