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 ↓
Onk Gallon Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard base
Wet the flour and make it into a paste with a little cold milk.
Scald the paste in 2 pints of milk using a double boiler to prevent scorching.
Strain the mixture and add the sugar; let it cool.
Finish and freeze
Once cooled, add the cream, remaining milk, beaten egg whites, and vanilla extract.
Freeze the mixture and let it stand 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.
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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Cream + sugartop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together43,450 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + vanillatop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,241 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Flour
- Thickens the milk mixture into a paste that gives the ice cream body.
- Cream
- Adds fat, which makes the ice cream rich and smooth.
- Egg whites
- Add structure and airiness to the mixture as it is frozen.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
The step that matters
Scald the flour paste in the milk using a double boiler. Flour thickens only when heated gently and evenly. Using a double boiler spreads the heat so the mixture does not scorch on the bottom of the pan, which would leave a burnt taste.
“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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