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Caramel Ice Cream

A custard-based ice cream flavored with caramel and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 ↓

Caramel Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, combine milk, 2 cups sugar, eggs, and salt.

  2. Mix flour with a little cold water until smooth, then add to the mixture.

  3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.

  4. In a separate pan, brown 1 cup sugar until caramelized, then add to the custard.

  5. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, then cool the mixture.

Finish and freeze

  1. Once cooled, stir in the heavy cream and vanilla flavoring.

  2. Freeze the mixture until solid.

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.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

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

  4. Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,241 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Eggs
Egg proteins thicken the custard as they heat, giving the base body and a creamy texture.
Milk
Provides the liquid base and moisture that the custard and ice cream are built on.
Heavy cream
Adds fat, which makes the frozen ice cream smoother and richer in texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and, once browned, caramel flavor; it also softens the frozen texture.
Flour
Starch swells when heated with liquid, helping thicken the custard.

The step that matters

Cooking the custard until thickened. Stirring constantly over medium heat keeps the egg and flour mixture from scorching or lumping, and the custard must thicken fully so it sets smooth when frozen.

“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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