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Dessert

Caramel Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream flavored with caramelized brown sugar.

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 ↓

Caramel Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan until it reaches boiling point.

  2. In a bowl, beat the eggs, white sugar, and flour until light and fluffy.

  3. Stir the egg mixture into the boiling milk and cook until it thickens into a rich custard.

  4. In a separate pan, melt the brown sugar over low heat, stirring constantly until it becomes liquid and smokes.

  5. Pour the melted brown sugar into the hot custard and mix well.

  6. Allow the mixture to cool completely.

Churn and serve

  1. Once cooled, add the heavy cream and strain the mixture into an ice cream maker.

  2. Add vanilla extract.

  3. Churn according to the manufacturer's instructions.

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. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Eggs
Thicken the custard as they cook and set, giving the base body and richness.
Flour
Stabilises the egg custard so it thickens without curdling.
Brown sugar
Caramelised by melting, adding deep toffee flavour and colour to the base.
Heavy cream
Adds fat, which makes the finished ice cream smooth and creamy rather than icy.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard that the other ingredients set into.

The step that matters

Melting the brown sugar. Brown sugar can scorch quickly over heat. Cook it over low heat and stir constantly, stopping once it liquefies, so it caramelises rather than burns and turns bitter.

“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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