Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Vanilla Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
Mix the powdered sugar, sweet cream, boiled sweet milk, beaten egg yolks, cornstarch, and vanilla extract together.
Strain the mixture through a fine sieve into an ice cream freezer.
Freeze and rest
Cover the freezer and pack it with broken ice and coarse sea salt.
Freeze for 30 minutes.
Let it sit for 2 hours before serving.
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 + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Cream + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,301 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
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Cream + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together29,399 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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
- Add richness and body, and help the custard set smoothly as it chills.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the base and gives the frozen cream a smoother, less icy texture.
- Powdered sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers its freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
- Sweet cream
- Supplies fat, which makes the ice cream rich and creamy.
- Boiled sweet milk
- Adds liquid and milk solids that build the base's body and flavor.
The step that matters
Packing the freezer with ice and salt. Salt lowers the melting point of the ice, making it colder than ice alone so the base freezes. Too little salt or ice slows freezing and can leave the cream grainy or soupy.
“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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