Name: Lemon Ice Cream
Ingredients: 2 gallons fresh milk; 4 pounds sugar; 6 eggs, well-beaten; 2 tablespoons lemon extract; 1 quart cream; juice and grated rind of 1 lemon; 1 cup white sugar

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 ↓

Lemon Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the bases

In a large bowl, combine the fresh milk, sugar, and well-beaten eggs.
Add the lemon extract and mix well.
In another bowl, mix the cream, lemon juice, grated lemon rind, and white sugar.

Freeze and serve

Freeze the mixture until solid.
Freeze this mixture until solid.
Serve the lemon ice cream.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Sugar + lemontop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together53,532 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

Sugar and lemon barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 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: Add richness and help the mixture set smoothly and creamily when frozen.
Cream: Adds fat, which makes the ice cream smooth and rich rather than icy.
Sugar: Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer and scoopable.
Lemon extract: Provides concentrated lemon aroma and flavor.