Why it works: Milk and corn are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,955 recipes. Both carry hexanal, which smells green, grassy. The science ↓
Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
In a large pot, cook the milk over medium heat.
In a bowl, beat the egg yolks and mix in the corn starch.
Once the milk is warm, slowly add the yolk mixture, stirring constantly until thickened.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
Fold the beaten egg whites into the milk mixture until combined.
Finish and freeze
Let the mixture cool, then add sugar and flavor to taste.
Freeze the mixture immediately in an ice cream maker.
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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Milk + corntop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,955 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).
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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).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Sugar + corntop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together7,168 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
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the milk into a custard and add richness and smoothness.
- Egg whites
- Whipped to stiff peaks, they add lightness and air to the frozen mixture.
- Corn starch
- Thickens the custard so it coats the spoon and freezes with a smooth texture.
- Rich milk
- Forms the liquid base that becomes the body of the ice cream.
- White pulverized sugar
- Sweetens the mixture and softens its texture, keeping it from freezing rock hard.
The step that matters
Adding the yolk mixture to the warm milk. If the yolks are added too fast or the milk is too hot, they can scramble. Adding slowly while stirring constantly tempers the eggs so the custard thickens 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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