Why it works: Cream and sugar 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 ↓
Tea Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Scald the milk with the tea.
After 5 minutes, strain the mixture into the cold cream.
Heat the mixture to scalding.
Finish and freeze
Mix in the beaten eggs and sugar thoroughly.
Let it cool, then 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.
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.
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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Milk + teatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together738 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Milk + eggtop 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).
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
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that carries the tea flavor and sets the ice cream's body.
- Tea
- Infused into the milk to give the ice cream its aroma and flavor.
- Cold cream
- Adds fat, which makes the frozen ice cream rich and smooth.
- Eggs
- Thicken the custard base as they set with heat, giving structure and richness.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and softens the texture of the frozen ice cream.
The step that matters
Mix in the beaten eggs and sugar thoroughly. Egg proteins set when overheated and can scramble into lumps if added to very hot liquid. Mixing them in thoroughly and keeping the base gently hot helps it thicken smoothly.
“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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