Name: Orange Ice Cream
Ingredients: 1 pint cream; 1 pint milk; ¾ pound sugar; rind of 1 orange; juice of 4 oranges (or 6 small oranges)

Why it works: Cream and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 43,450 recipes. Both carry 2,3-butanedione, which smells butter, sweet. The science ↓

Orange Ice Cream

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

In a bowl, combine the cream, milk, and sugar.
Add the orange rind and juice, mixing well.
Chill the mixture in the refrigerator.

Churn and freeze

Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions until it reaches a soft‑serve consistency.
Transfer to a container and freeze until firm.

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 + sugartop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together43,450 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
Milk + orangetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,696 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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).
Sugar + orangetop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together19,212 recipes

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

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: Adds fat, which makes the ice cream rich and smooth in texture.
Milk: Adds water and milk solids that help form a creamy, lighter-textured base.
Sugar: Sweetens the base and lowers its freezing point so it stays scoopable.
Orange juice: Provides orange flavour and acidity that brightens the sweet, rich base.