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Dessert

Chocolate Ice Cream

A frozen dessert made from cream, milk, eggs, chocolate, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla.

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 ↓

Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Beat the egg yolks and stir them into the milk.

  2. Add the cornstarch and sugar, then bring to a boil.

  3. Quickly remove from heat and dissolve the chocolate in a little milk over low heat, stirring constantly.

  4. Once smooth, mix it with the milk and egg mixture.

  5. Add the cream and vanilla, adjusting sweetness with more sugar if needed.

Chill and freeze

  1. Chill the mixture and then freeze.

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. Chocolate + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,020 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

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

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

  5. Cream + chocolatetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (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
Egg yolks thicken the custard base and add richness and body to the ice cream.
Cream
Adds fat, which gives the frozen ice cream a smooth, rich texture.
Cornstarch
Thickens the custard base and helps keep the frozen ice cream smooth.
Grated chocolate
Provides the chocolate flavor and some fat that softens the frozen texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.

The step that matters

Remove the custard from heat after it boils. Egg yolks scramble if overheated, which makes the base grainy. Removing it quickly after boiling and stirring the chocolate in gently keeps the custard smooth.

“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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