Name: Ice Cream
Ingredients: 1 quart cream; 1 quart milk; 1/4 box gelatin; sugar to taste; cracked ice; salt

Why it works: Cream and gelatin match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,628 recipes. Both carry acetic acid, which smells sour, vinegar. The science ↓

Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

Scald the milk in a kettle.
Dissolve the gelatin in the hot milk.
Remove the mixture from heat and sweeten to taste.
Pour the mixture into a freezer and chill until very cold.

Add the cream

Whip the cream until light and fluffy.
Add your flavoring to the whipped cream.
Stir the whipped cream into the chilled milk mixture.

Freeze and store

Prepare cracked ice and salt for freezing.
Stir the mixture while it hardens to keep it smooth.
Store the ice cream covered in a very cold place.

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.

Cream + gelatintop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,628 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,778 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

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

Smell alikelow

Cooked 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

Cream: Whipped to add air and lightness, giving the ice cream a rich, soft texture.
Milk: Forms the liquid base that the other ingredients are combined into and frozen.
Gelatin: Sets the mixture and helps it hold together with a smooth, firm body.
Sugar: Adds sweetness and softens the frozen texture, making it easier to scoop.