Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,380 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓
Plum-pudding Glace
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the flavourings
Seed the raisins and boil them gently in the milk or cream with the cinnamon for 15 minutes.
Strain the raisins and cinnamon from the milk.
Pour boiling water over the almonds, remove their skins, and pound them fine with a few drops of rosewater.
Slice the preserved ginger and citron thinly.
Make the custard base
Beat the egg yolks with the powdered sugar until creamy.
Return the milk to the heat and stir in the egg mixture until it thickens.
Remove from heat and let cool, then add the fruit and almonds along with the sweetened cream.
Freeze and serve
Freeze the mixture and pack it in ice.
Serve with whipped cream flavored with wine, brandy, or rum.
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.
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Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together6,380 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Cinnamon + almondtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,514 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Raisin + cinnamontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,390 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,781 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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 as they set when gently heated.
- Raisins
- Add sweetness, chewy texture and concentrated fruit flavour.
- Milk or cream
- Forms the liquid base that carries the flavour and gives a creamy body.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the custard and softens the texture of the frozen ice cream.
- Almonds
- Add crunch and a nutty flavour to the frozen mixture.
- Sweetened cream
- Adds richness and a smooth, light texture to the finished ice cream.
The step that matters
Stir the egg mixture into the hot milk until it thickens. Egg yolk proteins thicken the custard when heated gently, but if the milk is too hot or stirring stops, they scramble into lumps. Keep the heat moderate and stir constantly until the custard coats a spoon.
Swap the ginger
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (raisin, milk, cinnamon, almond, egg, sugar, cream):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cardamomfits better
- Clovefits about as well
- Gingerthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against raisin, milk, cinnamon, almond, egg, sugar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“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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