Why it works: Sugar and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓
Queen's Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the eggs
Separate the eggs, using only 4 yolks and all the whites.
Beat the whites very light.
Make the custard
Combine the yolks, milk, and sugar to taste, and make a custard.
Do not use arrowroot or any thickening.
Finish and freeze
Whip the cream very light.
Flavor the mixture to taste and freeze.
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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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together77,875 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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
- Yolks thicken and enrich the custard, while beaten whites add lightness and airiness.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that the yolks set into a smooth custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the custard and softens the texture of the frozen dessert.
- Rich cream
- Adds fat, giving the frozen dessert a rich, smooth mouthfeel.
The step that matters
Cooking the custard gently. Egg yolks thicken as they heat, but too much heat makes them scramble and curdle. Cooking slowly and stirring keeps the custard smooth, which matters because it sets the texture of the finished ice cream.
“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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