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Dessert

Frozen Tom and Jerry

A frozen custard made with egg yolks, powdered sugar, milk, flavoring, and folded egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 ↓

Frozen Tom and Jerry

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Beat the egg yolks and powdered sugar together until light.

  2. Add the milk and flavoring, then mix well.

  3. Fold in the beaten egg whites until combined.

Freeze

  1. Freeze the mixture immediately.

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. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

Egg yolks
Add richness and emulsify the mixture, giving a creamy body.
Egg whites
Whipped to trap air, lightening the texture so it is less dense when frozen.
Powdered sugar
Sweetens and, beaten with the yolks, helps create a light, smooth base.
Milk
Provides liquid and dairy fat, contributing to a creamy, soft frozen texture.
Flavoring
Supplies the aroma and taste, such as vanilla or rum.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Whipped egg whites hold air that gives the frozen dessert its light texture. Stirring them vigorously knocks out air and makes the result dense, so fold with a light hand until just combined.

“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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