Name: College Ices
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons sugared fruit or berries; brandy or wine (to taste); vanilla ice cream; fruit syrup or chocolate sauce (for topping)

Why it works: Brandy and vanilla work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 806 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

College Ices

Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugared fruit or berries
brandy or wine (to taste)
vanilla ice cream
fruit syrup or chocolate sauce (for topping)

Directions

In a frappe glass, add 2 tablespoons of sugared fruit or berries.
Flavor the fruit with a little brandy or wine.
Fill the glass with vanilla ice cream.
Pour a little fruit syrup or chocolate sauce over the top.

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.

Brandy + vanillatop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together806 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Cream + syruptop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,964 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Vanilla + syruptop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together1,855 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Vanilla + creamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,301 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).
Brandy + creamtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together2,635 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).

Vanilla and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,301 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

Sugared fruit or berries: Adds bright fruit flavor and juicy texture against the cold, creamy ice cream.
Vanilla ice cream: Forms the creamy, cold base of the dessert and carries the other flavors.
Brandy or wine: Adds a boozy aroma and depth that complements the sweet fruit.
Fruit syrup or chocolate sauce: Adds extra sweetness and a glossy topping that contrasts with the ice cream.

“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.