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 ↓
Chocolate Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the chocolate custard
Mix the chocolate and milk in the top part of a double boiler.
Cook until the chocolate is melted.
Beat the eggs and add the hot milk mixture.
Return to the boiler and cook for 2 minutes.
Sweeten to taste, making it very sweet.
Freeze
When cold, add the cream 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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Chocolate + creamtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,466 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Chocolate + sugartop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,404 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Milk + chocolatetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,128 recipes
Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).
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Milk + creamtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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, giving the ice cream a rich, smooth body.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base that melts the chocolate and carries the custard.
- Grated chocolate
- Provides the main flavor and color of the ice cream.
- Cream
- Adds fat, which keeps the frozen ice cream soft and creamy rather than icy.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers its freezing point, keeping the texture softer.
The step that matters
Return to the boiler and cook for 2 minutes. The egg custard thickens gently over heat but can curdle or scramble if it boils or overheats. Stir constantly and keep the heat low so it coats a spoon 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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