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 ↓
Ice Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Make the custard
Scald the milk in a pot.
While boiling, dissolve the cornstarch in a little cold milk and add it to the pot.
Stir in the lump sugar.
Beat the egg yolks and whites separately, then add them just before removing from heat.
Add the butter and strain the mixture through a sieve.
Flavor and finish
Flavor with vanilla or lemon.
Fold in the whipped cream, making it sweet as some sweetness will freeze out.
For fruit-flavored ice cream, add 1 quart of juice from your chosen fruit for every gallon of cream.
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.
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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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Coffee + vanillatop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,391 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the milk mixture so the custard becomes smooth and body-rich.
- Eggs
- Add richness and help thicken the custard as they set with heat.
- Lump sugar
- Sweetens the base and lowers the freezing point, keeping the ice cream softer.
- Cream
- Adds fat for a creamy, rich texture that resists large ice crystals.
- New milk
- Forms the liquid base that the thickeners and sugar are dissolved into.
The step that matters
Adding the eggs just before removing from heat. If the egg mixture is added too early or overheated, it can curdle or scramble. Adding it near the end and keeping it below boiling lets it thicken the custard 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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