Name: Ices and Ice Cream
Ingredients: 1 pint sugar; 1 pint water; juice from 1 can pineapple; 11 egg yolks; ½ pint cream; ¾ pound mixed French candied fruit; 1 tablespoon vanilla; 6 tablespoons orange juice; ½ pint cream, whipped

Why it works: Pineapple and vanilla match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 911 recipes. Both carry ethyl isobutyrate, which smells fruity, ethereal. The science ↓

Ices and Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

Make a syrup with 1 pint sugar, 1 pint water, and the juice from 1 can pineapple.
Cook for 20 minutes.
Add 11 beaten egg yolks.
Place on the back of the range.
Stir constantly until thickened.
Remove from heat.

Chill and beat

Place the inner kettle in a pan of cold water.
Beat for 15 minutes.
Let cool.

Flavour and freeze

Mix nut paste with ½ pint cream.
Strain through a sieve.
Add to the mixture.
Freeze.
Chop ¾ pound mixed French candied fruit.
Add it along with the canned pineapple, 1 tablespoon vanilla, 6 tablespoons orange juice, and ½ pint whipped cream when the mixture is half frozen.
Use a melon mold.
Garnish with roasted chestnuts or blanched almonds dipped in candy syrup.

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.

Pineapple + vanillatop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together911 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Pineapple + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,664 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).
Vanilla + orangetop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,371 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

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: Thicken the custard as they set on gentle heat, giving body and richness.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen mixture softer and less icy.
Cream: Adds fat, which gives the ice cream a smooth, rich texture.
Whipped cream: Adds trapped air, making the frozen dessert lighter and more tender.

The step that matters

Stir constantly until thickened. Egg yolks scramble if they get too hot or are left unstirred. Gentle, constant heat lets the custard thicken smoothly, and removing it from heat promptly prevents curdling.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, pineapple, egg, cream, vanilla):

Strawberryfits better
Bananafits better
Figfits better
Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, pineapple, egg, cream, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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.

Orange Bundt Cake349 recipes

Orange Cream Rice Pudding121 recipes

Pineapple Sherbet116 recipes

Vanilla Ice Cream108 recipes

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Ices and Ice Cream