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Vanilla Ice-gream

A custard-based vanilla ice cream made with milk, sugar, flour, eggs, cream, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Vanilla Ice-gream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard

  1. Bring the milk to a boil.

  2. Mix the sugar and flour together.

  3. Add the mixture to the boiling milk.

  4. Stir in the well-beaten eggs.

  5. Cook until it forms a rich custard.

  6. Let it cool.

Finish the ice cream

  1. Add the cream and vanilla.

  2. Stir in another cup of sugar.

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

Milk
Forms the liquid base that the custard thickens and sets within.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and keeps the frozen texture softer by lowering the freezing point.
Flour
Its starch thickens the custard as it heats, giving body to the base.
Eggs
Their proteins set when heated, thickening and enriching the custard.
Cream
Adds fat, which makes the finished ice cream rich and smooth.
Vanilla
Contributes the main aroma that defines the flavour of the ice cream.

The step that matters

Cook until it forms a rich custard. Egg proteins can curdle or scramble if the mixture gets too hot or is not stirred. Heating gently while stirring lets the flour and eggs thicken the base 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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